Sister of a Hero
by Surpise
Summary: Separated at birth, Percy Jackson was kept with his mother, and his younger sister Kayla Jackson taken with Poseidon to his palace. Kayla in her younger years, runs away from home and stumbles upon a long forgotten legend. Join Kayla as she progresses through her years as a Demigod, a daughter of Poseidon and sister of an Olympian Hero. AU, First fic, No Flames Allowed.
1. Prologue

Prologue

Long ago, before the first Titan war that put the gods of Olympus in a long hard war that waged for centuries, a certain God of Forge was hard at work in one of his best forges, on his newest and secret project entrusted to him by the fates themselves. The God of Blacksmith was on edge and panicked, never before in his godly immortal life had he ever heard tails, not even from his father Zeus that the fates visited the gods for a secret purpose. It was nerve wracking for the god, because he was tasked in creating a weapon that the fates themselves could infuse their power into.

A weapon with the power of fate itself was mind-boggling as if it were to fall into the wrong hands, the power best upon the wielder would be incredible, the power to change fate and alter to the persons liking. Hephaestus did not like the idea of a weapon of fate falling into the hands of the Titans or Giants and would prove horrific since war was upon the gods.

The outcome of the weapons was stunning, certainly his best craftsmanship and heart put into making the weapon. It was made by materials that the God himself had created and said to be indestructible and could never be broken by a weapon of any kind. They appeared as dual swords, one pure black with a tint of obsidian purple, and at the back, a long black thin steel chain that hung from the end. The other was completely the same except it was pure silver white. The tip of the blades sharper and finer than any other blade he had created, each blade at least arm's length long.

Hephaestus admired his handiwork as he held both blades at their grips in both hands and smiled as he infused a small amount of his godly power into it, as he did with everything he ever made, otherwise they could be passed off as mortal handwork and that was an insult to the god of forges to its finest.

He laid the twin blades down on his work space and sat down in deep thought. Now, all he had to do was waiting for the sisters of fate to arrive on by and infuse their power into the weapons. If his weapons could not hold the power, what blacksmith could make one that could? The more he thought about, the more he thought that it was a bad idea. The fate's symbol of power, what sort of power could that possess if placed in the wrong hands?

A few years past by as the day finally arrived when the sisters of fate appeared in the forge of Hephaestus. The god looked over his shoulder as he was currently working on other projects for gods that had requested symbols of power and he was on a tight schedule as the first titan war was upon them. Kronos was massing forces and all gods needed to be present and at full power.

The sisters walked up to the table and smiled.

'It is done is it?' Clotho asked, Atropos agreed, swirling a black electrical unstable power in her hands.

'It is, and what marvelous craftsmanship, a fitting weapon to be infused with our power.' Atropos admired as the blades floated up into the air and remained suspended in mid-air, ready for the infusion to begin. However, one sister had been having doubts about the whole idea of having their own symbol of power.

'I see something horrible to become of this weapon… Sisters I urge that we do not go through with this! What if this weapon is stolen? What if someone such as a god would steal this? They would have power to change the course of fate!' Lachesis spoke up. Atropos turned to her sister, power radiating around her.

'We are but the fear in gods and mortals alike. It is embarrassing that we do not hold a symbol of power. All we do is cut strings and determine what happens and use our own power to enforce it, how do we enforce fate if we do not have a symbol of power?!' Atropos argued.

The sisters broke out into a heated argument while Hephaestus sat in his palace throne and watched the gods that enforced the very laws and ancient laws of the world, bicker over whether or not to have a symbol of power. Finally the sisters convinced Lachesis to agree and the infusion began.

The two weapons floated up into the air and were encased in a green and black sphere of pure power from the fates. The three sisters held out a single hand as a few black tendrils slowly seeped out of their fingertips and curl themselves around the weapons.

Their power had begun to infuse and combined with the weapon as the swords began to twirl nicely in the air, with the black energy projected by the fates being absorbed into the hard material.

However, just before the infusion was to be complete the weapons gave a shudder and the sphere around the weapons shattered throwing uncontrolled power everywhere. The god of forges was pushed back slightly and the fates stood planted to the ground to where they stood. The swords dropped to the ground with a loud clang while nobody in the room dared to touch the blades.

There was a dark smoky black aura around the blades as they seemed to glow a bright white light as well as a dark shadow loomed around the swords.

Lachesis had a look of anger on her face while the other two looked shocked at what had just occurred. The infusion was a success however; the symbol of power was now extremely unstable and any volt of power could set it off, causing a catastrophic accident.

'I warned you two something bad was to occur if we went through with this!' Lachesis screamed at her foolish sisters. They bowed their heads in shame and anger. Lachesis left her sisters sides as she walked over to examine the incomplete weapons.

'Just as I thought, this was foolish and unstable. The curse of fate, our restrictions and power have been implanted in the weapon. We cannot touch the weapons or the power will destroy us.' Lachesis said turning to her sisters.

'We must destroy this weapon before it falls into the hands of a Titan… or even worse, a god or a giant.' Lachesis continued.

'I apologize but the weapon cannot be destroyed. It was made by my finest and best materials and now with your infused power, there will be nothing that can destroy a weapon as great as itself.' The God of Blacksmiths said from his palace room throne. Lachesis growled, trying to think of another alternative.

'Then we do the next best thing and hide the weapon in the land from beyond the reach of the gods. No one is to know these two blades were crafted and they never shall, for the safety of the mortal world and the world of gods, this weapon shall never be found!' Lachesis said levitating the weapons. The swords seemed to twirl around each other as a translucent bubble appeared around the two swords.

'Come Sisters, let us correct our mistake and hide this weapon before someone finds these weapons and uses them to derail fate from its course.' The three sisters vanished from the forge with the two weapons while Hephaestus slumped in his throne.

Another failed project, and another disappointment. The god of blacksmiths pushed himself out of his throne to work of the weapons Zeus had commanded him to make. So much error, so much disappointment, it made him angry just thinking about it.

Hephaestus picked up a hammer and proceeded to smash metal to bits, and making some new weapons for his father, like he was instructed to do in the first place, but he couldn't understand what went wrong… was it his craftsmanship that failed the transfusion of power? Or was it the matter that infusing the power of the fates into a weapon just simply wasn't possible. There was something just not right about that whole incident, and it made Hephaestus frustrated.

He left his forge to find the project's blueprints that had failed him, to look over the design to make sure; there wasn't anything that could have made such a violent reaction.

-Line Break-

Around three millennia later, in an apartment somewhere in the middle of New York City, Sally Jackson, the mother of two demigod children had just walked in the door carrying in two babies after spending a week and a half ins hospital care. In each of the cots, a brother and a sister, lay giggling as they looked at each other in amazement.

In her apartment pacing like a madman who had just received the news was none other than the God of the Ocean and Earth Shaker waited for his first look at his child, or children.

As far as Poseidon knew, he was told he was only to have one child, and that was his son. When he caught sight of the second child his mouth fell open and his jaw hit the floor.

'Surprise Hun… The second one is a girl, and she was born an hour after little Percy was born. We only prepared for Percy but the girl has no name…' Sally said with an awkward smile. Poseidon either didn't hear her or didn't care as he squeaked like a little girl.

'Oh no… Zeus will send me to Tartarus if he finds out! Not one but two children of the Sea!? How did my godly sense not pick up on the second one! This doesn't make any sense-' He was cut off by Sally giving him a kiss on his lips. The softness of her lips calmed the Sea god as his ranting died down to nothing but a whimper of panic.

'Now Hun, we will figure out what to do with the children after we give her a name. I was thinking of naming her after a cousin of mine Alice but I liked Kayla better, I think it suits the way she looks and acts, what do you think? I was thinking about it on the way back in a taxi and I really like it.' Sally asked Poseidon who seemed to actually register the name.

'Perseus and Kayla Jackson… I… like it. Seems fitting for me, I love it!' Poseidon smiled and started to tickle the children in their cots as they both laughed.

'Good because I had already signed Kayla Jackson on the document they made me fill out before we left.' Sally said walking into the kitchen to prepare a cup of tea for her and her _faithful_ lover. Poseidon stopped and turned and raised an eyebrow at Sally who shrugged and smiled innocently. He rolled his eyes and turned back to the two children.

Later on, the two sat down to address the main issue at hand, the fact that two Demigod sibling children gave off a powerful scent to monsters, especially two children of the big three and this put the two children in serious danger.

The horrifying conclusion that Sally and Poseidon came to was heart breaking for the two of them. The two children could not stay together. Since the apartments guest room was set up in preparation for Percy, they both agreed that Percy would be staying in the mortal world, and that Kayla would live in Poseidon's palace before she is old enough and, would be taken to Camp Half Blood.

They also both agreed that Percy and Kayla should not see each other until it's time to go to Camp Half Blood and that they should keep the fact that each other have a brother and a sister would be kept confidential. Not to mention Hermes has eyes and ears everywhere and if one day Percy would to be sounding off at school that he had a sister somewhere would be a horrible factor that Poseidon could not deal with.

They also both agreed to keep certain updates on their children via Iris messaging, where Poseidon would tell Sally how Kayla was doing and Sally telling Poseidon how Percy was doing. It was a safe and secure deal that took effect as soon as Poseidon was called back to his palace and taking the cute adorable Kayla Jackson with him.

Poseidon could not help but wonder as he made his way back to his undersea palace with the baby in his arms; the fact was why he could not sense Kayla's presence when he could so clearly sense Perseus's presence in Sally. One thing was for sure though; Poseidon was in for a long chat with his immortal wife Amphitrite. He would have to lay down some ground rules that would forbid her or Triton from harming his daughter.

-Line Break-

A/N: Hello readers, this is my first story I actually have gotten very far in writing. Currently, I actually have around 70,000 words on this story. I'll try and release chapters regularly. I have six full complete chapters finished, chapters are around 7 - 12 thousand words long and I intend to keep it that way.

For those of you who don't like the story, don't read it. I don't care if you like it or not, just don't read it. For those others who seem interested, I promise you there is a lot more to come.

This fic skips Lightening Thief and The Sea of Monsters and kind of starts at the beginning of The Titans Curse.

AND FINALLY, for those of you who are Thalia and Zoe fans, don't you worry. When I read the books, i was annoyed about the lack of Thalia and Zoe so they will feature a lot more in this story. Remember, this is an AU, and fan fiction. Zoe will not speak in old English as i am to lazy to write in that style.

Thanks and see you next chapter. :)


	2. Chapter One

Chapter One: Growing up Demigod Style

Ten years had passed since the birth of the two demigod children of the sea. According the Sally, Percy had a knack for getting kicked out of school which was a little disheartening though expected since Demigod's were born with ADHD and Dyslexia. They were traits that are born with the Demigod children, ADHD for battle enhancement sensing and Dyslexia so they could decode ancient Greek and translate it into something the child would understand.

Percy has now been to a couple of schools, and had been expelled from pretty much all of them, often being accused of fighting other students, breaking school property or it the worst cases, setting the school on fire. Percy never wanted to do these things; weird things kept happening around him that he just couldn't explain.

Kayla on the other hand, had been worked to the bone by Poseidon's general trainers as he refused to have his only daughter die to the hands of a hunger-driven monster. She was around the same age as Percy; she was ten, a little younger by an hour. Her black unruly hair and grown out down to her mid-back and lone strains of black locks of hair would hang over her fore head and over her deep sea green eyes. She was very athletic and strong for a ten year old, her body tone was much defined and although her size was small, she was very quick and deadly for a ten year old. Compared to Percy, they almost looked like twins to the point where only gender could separate the two.

Her muscles were very cut from doing consistent training and core work and body exercises. However it wasn't just personal body training that she hated, she loathed the school work, of being underwater and having tutors teach her basics like Maths and English and Ancient Greek. At least five times over each school semester was she caught sleeping and having a bucket filled with wet sand tipped on her head.

A year later when she turned eleven, she was already better than most of the undersea captains in the Sea Gods army and Poseidon himself couldn't have been any more proud of his daughter. She may not be the brightest but she was sure smart and especially when it came to battle and fighting. She was passing her tests which acceptable scores when it came to school work and excelled at swordsman ship and was absolutely horrific at archery. Once when Poseidon's best archers had taken her to the underwater archery range, she had almost taken out the lieutenant of his army's eye, and he was standing behind her.

Poseidon wasn't just making sure every area she studied and trained at was exceptional because he wanted her to be the best and be able to defend herself, but because he feared the great prophecy might be referring to her, but it could also be Percy, he just hoped Percy would make it to Camp Half Blood and receive training from Chiron in time.

A year later, everything turned to custard for Poseidon. A month or so after Kayla and Percy turned twelve, his Symbol of power was stolen and this was a horrible thing to have happened because at the same time, both his brother Zeus and Hades both had their Symbols of Power stolen from them. The thing that made Poseidon's stomach turn was that Zeus was accusing his son Percy of being the thief and that he would blast him after a certain amount of days unless all their Symbols of power had been returned.

The Hunters of Artemis had set out to find Poseidon and Hades' symbols of power while a quest was being formed at Camp Half Blood to find Zeus's master bolt. It looked like Percy was going to be the leader of this quest, and Poseidon cursed the fact that Percy had only just made it to camp a few days and was already being sent on a quest that would define him in front of the council of the gods, and he was only twelve!

Poseidon was so worried he decided Iris messaged Sally to find out if she was okay and if Percy had made it to camp in good condition. That would be the biggest mistake of his immortal life as he was so panicked that he didn't sense Kayla swim into his quarters and float at the entrance, to hear every word he was about to say. She had actually come to ask him about some work she was set by her trainers that she found to be a bit confusing.

'Hello Hun.' Sally said answering the message. She was currently in the kitchen baking something that Poseidon couldn't make out but she wasn't looking in his direction to notice that Kayla was secretly listening in.

'Did Percy make it to Camp Half Blood alright?!' The sea god asked in a panic. Sally shifted uncomfortably.

'Sally! Is our son alright!?' Poseidon asked almost on the verge of a heart attack.

'Yes, he's fine; he's with a nice satyr called Grover. I drove them to camp but we were attacked by a Minotaur. Luckily Hermes was tailing us or I would have been killed, Percy defeated the Minotaur outside the camp and is now safe inside. Are you planning on sending our daughter there yet? Or are you not satisfied with the age yet.' Sally asked. Throughout the explanation Poseidon's immortal stomach did flips and spins as he heard about his son defeating a Minotaur at his age! Man his children are definitely powerful.

'Phew' Poseidon wiped a drop of sweat off his forehead, relieved that his son had made it to camp safely and had made an impression.

'By the way, why was Hermes following us Hun? He refused to say anything on the matter but I have a feeling it has something to do with Percy.' Sally said rising and eyebrow in Poseidon's direction but she didn't take her eyes off what she was doing. The sea god paled, she was not going to like this.

'My brother has accused our son for stealing his Master Bolt. If Percy doesn't give it back in two weeks he will kill our son.' Poseidon said letting his shoulders slump. Sally dropped what she was doing and spun right around to scold the sea god for letting this happen but lightened up immediately as she saw her daughter at the door of the sea gods throne room in complete shock and disgust, betrayal and heartbreak.

'Kayla…' Sally said reaching for her daughter but pulled back as she swore she saw her daughters heart and trust in her father shatter like glass as her eyes built with puffy red tears as she looked at Poseidon.

'Dad... Who is that… is that mom?' Kayla stuttered in confusion. Poseidon's heart sank like a rock when he turned to face his daughter. Her face displayed countless emotions all trying to surface at once. Poseidon closed his eyes, wishing he had found a different excuse to tell his daughter about the fate of her mother.

'You told me mom died! You said she was killed in an accident caused by monsters! Who is Percy!? He's you're son? You never said anything about me having a brother! I don't even know who you are anymore!' Kayla screamed and swam off like a bullet in the opposite direction. Poseidon felt his heart shatter into tiny little crystals and had them stepped on and crunched underneath the feet of an automation that Hephaestus would have made. Poseidon made an attempt to go after her until he was stopped by Sally.

'Stop, she will cool off. Just leave her alone for the moment; you can see her in a few minutes so just give her some time to herself. Obviously you told her a very bad lie.' Sally said turning back to the kitchen.

'I'm sorry for telling her that you died… I should have thought of a better excuse than that. It was too harsh and cruel.' Little did the two parents know, letting Kayla go was the biggest mistake they both had made.

Kayla shot out of her father's palace and into the open ocean all while Triton watched in curiosity and slight fear that his father would kill him and send him to Tartarus if he didn't warn him about what was just happening. Triton immediately raced to his father's quarters to warn him about what she was doing.

Kayla went for miles not even slowing down but starting to feel tired but her energy was fueled by her anger so she kept on going. However she stopped as she passed a large whale heading nowhere in particular. After another few minutes she felt so tired she just started to float. She looked around wiping tears out of her eyes. A passing whale seemed to be passing by with some other whales, heading somewhere that didn't bother Kayla; she was too tired and upset to know where they were going.

'_Excuse me!_' She mentally shouted in her head to grab the attention of the whale. It turned and re-positioned itself in the water and faced her.

_ 'Hello Princess! What can I do for you today?'_ The whale responded cheerfully via the mental communication. One of the pluses was being able to communicate with any sea creature in her father's domain, and that they all referred to her as Princess or Ms Jackson and to be honest, she didn't exactly like the title. She hated titles.

'_Please, take me where my father cannot find me or reach me.' _She pleaded the whale. It seemed to mentally frown at the sea princess but it could not ignore the sea god's daughter command.

'_A place where your father cannot reach you… that would be dangerous young one, but if you really wish to do so then jump on my back and I will take you there.' _The whale said. Silently, Kayla floated and placed herself on the back of the whale. The whale shifted in direction and began to swim in a dark direction as Kayla lay on its back and passed out due to fatigue.

The thing Kayla didn't know was that how dangerous the land beyond the gods was. No Demigod could ever even dream of surviving there for long periods of time. A horrible place where the gods have no power and monsters ran wild around the place. Even Artemis and her hunters for millennia avoided Alaska as it was far too dangerous.

Days passed as Kayla waited on the back of the whale. Her anger started to subside and she started to want to see her father again, but she insisted that it was to prove her point. She dismissed any thoughts of returning back to her father's palace. The events kept playing through her head, seeing her mother for the first time ever.

Why would he keep her from me?

Why say that she is dead?

These were questions that played at her, keeping her awake and keeping the tears fresh. Kayla had never felt so angry with her father in her entire life. It just didn't seem fair, and now it wasn't just her mother's fate she questioned, it was a boy named Percy who seemed to be Kayla's blood brother.

Was he her brother?

If so, does she have other siblings she doesn't know about?

Finally after four long painful days, the whale had arrived at her destination. They popped up out of the surface of the water and Kayla jumped off the back of the whale and swam towards the shoreline. It was a beach that sat next to a town that was semi-busy of sort. The water felt sad and depressed, though the emotions weren't strong. Poseidon must have found out that she ran away.

'_Thank you.' _She said as she turned to the whale as she stood up from getting out of the water and willing herself to dry. Her clothes were what any twelve year old girl would have or want. She had a white t-shirt saying "I 3 the Ocean". She also wore some skinny jeans that fit her nicely and some slip on shoes. These were clothes she wore on a casual days. On training days, she would wear battle armour that her father's generals provided.

'_That's fine, although I must warn you to be careful. This land is beyond the reach of all the gods. Your powers will work but not very well. Just do your father one thing and just stay safe. I must head back now.' _The whale responded. As she waved the whale descended back into the water. Kayla turned and looked at the town and gathered a deep breath when something hit her as she realized that she had no money and no weapon to defend her from monsters that would come after her. With a new idea in mind she nervously set off into the town.

As the weeks passed, Kayla managed to steal from a number of food and clothing stores. The police never managed to catch her as she would always run back into the water and make a large air bubble around her so she could eat and the clothes and food wouldn't go soggy. It made her think how other demigods functioned in their life. If others like her and lived with their parents or were they to live like rats in a city?

She also wondered about her so called brother Percy, was he okay? Did he even know she existed? Thoughts like these plagued her mind for weeks on end and she started to want to go back and see her father but she couldn't. For some reason she wasn't able to communicate so well with the marine life around these parts.

She also found herself wanting to go home, but the way her father lied to her about her mother was too painful to ignore. So every once in a while she would sit on the beach alone, thinking about who they were, and what they did. She wondered where Percy was, and what he was doing. If he was her brother he must have been a half-blood as well. As for Sally, well, from what Kayla saw, she was living a perfectly normal mortal life. The way mortals should live.

-Line Break-

-Time Skip-

So the months went on and soon two years had passed, and she still survived in the land known as Alaska. Her home was by the water, and on a beach, at night she would create a nice bed at the bottom of the ocean and lie there in an air bubble so she could rest peacefully. Daily life was hard, she would steal food to survive and use her water powers to alter the molecules in the ocean to make them fresh. She had to also steal clothes, to change her appearance if she didn't want to be recognized as soon as walks into town.

If that wasn't hard enough, dozens of monsters would find her and attack her daily, but since she was always next to the sea, she always managed to down the monsters with a few tidal waves. Her ocean powers had also become a lot stronger as well. It made her less tired when using her connection with the water and it also made her attacks and connection with the water and ocean a lot stronger.

Only when she thought she was getting use to things, she had been hearing monsters around her for days, as if they were circling her position, and there had been no attacks for about four days straight. She started to get nervous as she would hear and see monsters just out of the corner of her eye but then they would disappear into thin air. It was a cruel game of hide and goes seek and she was it. On the fifth day, she finally knew what the monsters were doing, they were planning a trap. She figured this out far too late as a couple of hell-hounds closed in on her so she did the next best thing than fight. She ran like her life depended on it, which in this case, it did.

She ran into the small town where she had gained the name of "Witch" or some of the kids referred to her as the "Ocean master" and other silly names after citizens of the town had witnessed a few fights with her summoning powers of water to her aid. It seemed the mist had a less effect on mortals here.

With the monsters on her tail, her mind was racing at a million miles an hour. She had little idea as to where she was going as she cut ever corner of the street and continued to run with all sorts of monsters on her tail, Hell-hounds, Cyclopes and other various unidentified monsters. She was then being closed in by all angles as she looked for a way to escape.

'_What the Hades am I going to do; they've always attacked at random! Dammit!' _Her mind screamed at her. As she turned into a three sixty degree turn watching the monsters close in hungrily, her foot felt metal under her weight. She looked down and felt her heart leap for victory.

'_Oh today must be my lucky day!' _She thought sarcastically as she reached down and pulled open the sewer drainage metal hatch. Before the monsters knew what she was doing she had already disappeared into the ground and into the sewers and had pulled the hatch back over and had descended into the underground waste tunnels.

As she landed, she landed in a puddle of very dirty water she did not like the feel of. The water down here felt foul and polluted, it reeked of mortal waste and other things she did not want to think about. She scaled the sides of the wall where a path had been formed for when people come down here. She had no torch so she had to rely on the sense of how close the water felt and her touch.

When her eyes got slightly use to where she was, she leaned against a wall and breathed out a sigh. She was so sick of these monster attacks, and now it felt like there was an organized monster army after her.

'I'm going to get myself killed if I don't find a way back to dad sooner or later. He must be worried sick.' She said aloud. After a few minutes of resting she was about to push herself upright and continue walking, however the wall behind her gave way and she fell through to the other side. She screamed as she fell flat on her backside. She looked up to see the wall moving back up and trapping her inside. She moved quickly and tried to get out however the wall shut to quickly and she was stuck in the darkness.

'What the Hades! What is this? Was this a trap?' She said aloud talking to herself again. She tried pounding on the door, ramming it with her shoulder but nothing would work and the secret door remained shut tight. She gave up and turned around, behind her she could clearly see a very large open windy staircase and went all the way down to what looked like the center of the earth. Kayla had a very bad idea about what she was about to do.

_'I really don't want to see what's down there, probably some ancient monster that's been locked up tight, but this stupid door isn't going to reopen itself so it looks like if there's going to be any exit, it will be down there somewhere.'_ She thought. She started to jog down the staircase which seemed to go on forever. She stopped at one point to look back and she realized with a sweat-drop that it would be a long painful climb back up, if there was no exit down here, and if she were still alive.

After what seemed like an eternity for her, she finally reached the bottom the cavern and she saw another door. This time this was clear that it was a door, but what frightened her was that carved into the door were three sisters, no doubt the sisters of fate. Whatever was behind this door, Kayla didn't want to know but she had no choice. Either die down here, or go through the door and find an exit were her options at that point. She took a deep shaky breath and proceeded to push the door open.

With a large effort, the stone door budged and moved, along with the dust that felt like it was attacking Kayla's nasal passages. She pushed through and walked into a large open room. It seemed that this room felt important but that's not what bugged her, she felt as if time was not present in this room, like it had completely frozen as soon as she walked into the room. Her eyes didn't leave what was placed in the middle of the room.

In the middle of the room on a stone slab that raised as high as her midsection, lay two swords, one black, and one white. Each placed over each other to form an "X". The two chains that hung from the back of the hilt were straight and hanging off the stone slab. Kayla felt intimidated and very, very scared. The sight of the swords made her want to turn and run away and crawl up in a corner and cry for her daddy, but she could not do that.

As she approached the swords, there was nothing but taunting silence. Her footsteps echoed through the overly large room. Her eyes remained glued to the two swords, the aura around them felt so dark and disturbing.

'_Such a large room for two swords? I get the feeling that these aren't just ordinary swords…'_ She thought to self. Then she mentally slapped herself for asking such a stupid question. Of course these swords are a sort of rarity. Why else would they be: Underground, behind a secret door, down a large staircase, and inside a stupidly large room that shouldn't be holding only just two swords.

She shook the fear out of her eyes and approached the swords. Taking every single step as cautious as possible to make she could hear if anyone decided to attack her from any angle. It didn't happen. She had made it to the stone slab and her fear was very visible as she read the inscription on the side of the stone slab.

**'The Curse of Fate lies dormant,**

**The power to change, the power to save and the power to kill,**

**Bear the curse of fate and your soul will be eternally bound to the blades.'**

This made her even more nervous. It told her to do exactly what she wanted to do, but there was nowhere to run. She was being hunted by monsters and she was out of options to defend herself and she was getting desperate to get home. These swords may come at a horrible price but she would do anything to see her dad again, and get to see her mom and maybe even her brother that she desperately wanted to see.

On the other hand, what does the curse of fate mean? Her soul will be bound to the blades? What does it mean?

She was on the verge of a break down as so many questions were running through her mind at once. She was almost to the point of biting her nails trying to figure out what to do. What would her dad say if he found out his daughters soul is bound to the curse of fate? Then again, would she ever even see her dad again?

The blades seemed to glow in a majestic light that reflect light all over the room, but there was no point from where the light came from. It seemed like the blades were producing their own light in a magical form.

Kayla was shaking; she had no idea what to do until she heard growls and grunts coming from where she came from. She ran back out the door and looked up into the darkness to see the monsters she was running from, hastily making their way down the stair way. This sped up her panic by tenfold as her eyes glowed with dead struck fear.

She turned back to the blades, and it was as if they were calling out to her. It was like the blades were begging to be picked up and used. She was running out of time, she would have to make a decision in the next few seconds and her mind was racing. She started to tremble as the voices got closer and growls and the grunts from what sounded like hungry hell-hounds were drawing closer by the second. She ran back inside the room and pushed to stone doors until they closed. She had made the decision and it was a decision she would have to life with for the rest of her life. She ran over to the blades and gave one last look at them.

'Oh jeez, I am so going to regret this later on…' She said as she threw her hands down and picked both swords up in her two hands, the black blade in her right and the white blade in the left. For a moment nothing happened. Then an unimaginable pain shot throughout her body.

The pain was indescribable but if she were to try to explain it, it would be like your skin and your insides were being lit ablaze by Greek fire. It felt like her body was ripping apart from the inside out. She couldn't help but scream painful wails and cry as her green eyes momentarily shifted into a black endless void of madness until shifted back into her sea green eyes. Her hair caught fire and for a moment she was on her knees with her hair cased in a black inferno.

Columns of black fire shot up around her as she continued to scream until finally the columns of fire slowly stopped and the screams turned into grunts of pain as she fell on all fours, blades still in her hands. Her hair returned to her normal black long unruly hair that stretched down to almost her tail bone.

'No… turning back… now, I guess…' She said in between shaky breaths. She looked up just in time to see the stone door shake violently and crumble into pieces as six hungry hell-hounds scattered into the room and roaming in a circle around Kayla. Then three Cyclops's walked into the room with tree trunks that had been pulled out by force, in their large ogre like hands. After that, four gorgons slithered into the room bearing their fangs, looking at Kayla like she was a piece of raw meat waiting to be eaten.

Kayla got to her feet and examined the situation she was now in. Her legs felt like jelly but she knew if she didn't focus, that pain she went through just before would be for nothing. Before she could even think any further, the first two hell-hounds ran towards her and jumped at her. Kayla shifted her newly found swords in her hands and side stepped to the left and sliced through the side of one of the hell-hounds like butter while the other landed in an empty space.

Another two hell-hounds decided to attack and one swipe caught Kayla off guard and made a bloody four lined slash in her back that tore through her shirt. She retaliated by swinging both of her swords in a three sixty swipe killing both of the hell-hounds that attacked from the rear. Instinctively, she spun around just in time to catch the fourth hell-hound jumping at her. She ducked and rammed her shoulder into the stomach of the hell-hound and then delivered and fatal slice to its stomach turning the fourth to golden sand that erupted into a black fire.

Only two hell-hounds left, three Cyclops's and four gorgons. That little assault lasted a good ten seconds. She stayed on the defensive with her swords pointing at every enemy. She had only a few times tried dual weapon fighting, and found that she liked it more than any other style.

Her back was throbbing in pain; she could even feel blood trickling down her back. The pain was very hard to ignore as every turn with her body multiplied the pain.

The Cyclops's seemed to walk around her in amusement while the other two hell-hounds circled her. The gorgons guarded the door in case she made a run for it. She had no choice, she had to stay here and kill all these monsters otherwise she would die.

Finally one of the Cyclops's took a run at her and swung its large club down, when Kayla dived out of the way just in time to see the club make a large crack in the ground. It was simple, get it by one of those and it's all over. The last two hell-hounds attacked at her rear again, she saw this and spun around and ran at them. At the last second she dropped to her knees and slide right under the hell-hounds as they jumped into the air to pounce their target. Kayla brought her two swords up and sliced through the abdomens of the two hell puppies. They exploded into a golden dust and then into a black fire.

She was given no time to rest as the next Cyclops came barreling towards her swinging its club madly. She ran towards it and just before it swung again to hit her, she dropped to her knees again and slid through its legs. However, another Cyclops was waiting for her on the other side, as she jumped to her feet; she jumped to the side to dodge a hammer down when the club hit the stone floor. She jumped onto the Cyclops and ran up its stomach in two steps and then flipped off, kicking it in the face in the process completely dazing that Cyclops. She then proceeded to slice its legs clean off and then when it was brought down to her height she executed the Cyclops by in one motion, slicing its head clean off, without a second thought.

Lost in her victory over killing that Cyclops, she was then knocked with such great force into a stone wall where her vision faded slightly and then readjusted. She used her left hand with the white blade in it, to touch the back of her head slightly. She winced at the pain as she brought her fingers into her sight. Pure red blood stained her fingertips. Her head felt like it had bricks sitting on top of it as a headache started to form.

'_Can't give up now!_' Her mind screamed. Although her body was screaming for release and rest, she was determined to win. Her eyes steadied in front of her to see the two Cyclops starting to run towards her. She picked up what energy she had left and ran towards them. Just before the Cyclops's attacked she jumped to her right and sliced the side of the right Cyclops's side, she then dashed to its rear and ran it through, and she instantly turned to the last Cyclops who started to swing its club very angrily. Kayla ducked the first swing and then jumped over the seconds swing. The third swing she dived out of the way, recovered and quickly sliced off the hand the last Cyclops was using to swing the club. The Cyclops bellowed in agony and he held his severed hands arm with his other arm.

Kayla wasted no time in dashing towards the Cyclops showing no mercy in hers as she kept reminding herself that those monsters wanted to do nothing more than kill her and eat her. She quickly sliced off the other good arm and spun around in a three sixty degree spin and angled her left handed blade in a deadly position as the blade in her left hand pieced right in the middle of the one good eye eye of the last Cyclops and came out the back of its head. It was silent as the Cyclops melted into golden sand, and burst into a black flame.

She was breathing heavily, and she could even feel the thickness of the blood sliding down the back of her neck. Her back was throbbing from the slash one of the hell-hounds had made while her guard was down. Her little thirteen year old body was screaming for rest, but she still had one problem. The gorgons were guarding the door. She slowly turned to find the gorgons shaking in absolute fear. Kayla took a step forwards towards the door and instantly she heard the green skinned reptile humanoids shriek in fear and scrambled out of the cavern and back up the stairs pushing each other out of the way.

Kayla stared in disbelieve as she watched four monsters that wouldn't have thought twice about eating a demigod, run away from their target. A little thirteen year old girl who cut her way through six hell-hounds and three Cyclops and she was still standing.

She slowly started to make her way out, following the way the gorgons went, and even slowly started to make her way up the long stairway. After twenty minutes, she made it to the top. The door that had swallowed her was now completely broken down, mostly likely by the Cyclops's. She stepped out and made her way back to the sewer entrance. As she painfully pushed open the metal hatch with both her swords still in hand, she was glad to find that it was now dark out and that there was no one around. She silently made her way back to the beach. As soon as her mind was off combat and surviving, the blades vanished, turning into bracelets one each of her wrists.

The black one was a black bedded bracelet that wrapped loosely around her right hand wrist. The white one was like a chain of flowers that little girls use to do when sitting in a field of flowers. A little flower chain that wrapped nicely around her left wrist.

Without any more stops, she stumbled onto the sands of the beach and directly walked straight into the water. She ended up falling face first into the water and she allowed herself to sink and be carried by the tide. She could feel the sting of salt water in her wounds and the feeling of the beginning of the healing process. She couldn't take the stinging pain and blacked out from fatigue and blood loss.

-Line Break-

She woke up the next day, around mid-day at the bottom of the ocean; the surface was around one to two hundred meters upwards. It seems the tide had taken her out some length and she was now lying at the bottom just floating right about the sandy bed of the ocean.

She slowly opened her eyes and immediately examined her wrists to confirm if it was a dream or not. The bracelets were indeed stuck to her, and she now bore the curse of fate, whatever that was anyway.

She willed the currents to bring her back to the shore and as she did, she climbed to her feet and willed herself to dry. Her hands drifted to her back as she felt the claw marks embedded in the shirt were still there, but the cuts were absent, and completely healed. The other hand drifted to the back of her head, although the injury had been healed, there was a large bump present. Kayla groaned loudly.

'I need to be more careful in future.' Kayla mumbled to herself. Kayla turned back and looked out upon the ocean.

Today was her fourteenth birthday and she had no father and no friends to celebrate it with. Maybe she had been too hard on her father.

Maybe he told her, her mother died to protect her from something. Surely her dad wouldn't just lie to her like that without reason, there had to be a reason for keeping the other side of her family a secret apart like that. Now knowing she had a brother around the same age as her somewhere, she just had to find him.

Kayla looked around as she sat on the beach for a few hours trying to think about what to do next. She turned her head slightly to see a boat dock next to the town she had lived next to for the past two years. She always looked at the boat dock, contemplating whether or not to go home, back her father.

She had always turned away the thought as the event that lead to her being here played through her mind like a sickness refusing to go away. She missed her home in her father's palace but the thought that he was hiding even more than what he let on made her angry. So she kept away, her trust in her father on a very thin line. She still couldn't wrap her head around why he would tell her that her mother was killed.

Was it to protect her?

She looked at the bracelets that hung loosely around her wrists. The disguise feature for weapons now days. She began to think about how to use the swords, but as soon as her mind drifted to combat, the swords shot out from her bracelets and into her hands.

At first she was stunned that it was a simple mental command to activate them, normally she had seen weapons that you had to twist or click to active them. These weapons responded to what she thought about.

She stood up and turned to the boat dock, seeing a number of unmanned boats just sitting at the dock waiting to be used. Maybe it was time to return, she had been gone too long.

Kayla also felt like she had learned to grow by herself, learnt to handle herself and make her own choices. She had grown stronger and much sharper than the average demigod but why should she go back? She knew why she wanted to go back, she was now strong enough to cope on her own, and she would use that strength to find her mother and her brother.

She sighed as she started off towards the dock silently as she put up her jacket hood to stop people from recognizing her. When she got to the docks, she silently stole a small unnoticeable boat and set off into the wide open sea, not even looking back at where she had lived for the past two years of her life.

The actual truth was she was glad to get away from Alaska. It was a death trap waiting to capture demigods who weren't prepared. She wasn't prepared, maybe she was just lucky.

To get away from Alaska she had to use her powers to control the currents to bring her out of the Alaska region and back into her father's domain where he had control. Kayla thought about how angry her dad would be… two years and no word home or sign that she was alive. She wouldn't blame him if he locked her up in her room for the rest of her life, but she was determined to meet her brother and her mother.

-Line Break-

Three days had passed and her powers were still working like a charm. She was well and truly out of the Alaska area and now she guess she was just now entering her father's domain. She was just floating causally when the current became very rough and bumpy as the sea took a turn for the worst. Monstrous tidal waves had formed and were crashing into each other. Kayla gulped and a little squeak escaped her throat as she stared at the storm she was in the middle of.

'_Dad is angry, __**really **__angry.'_ She thought to herself. She dived into the water from her boat and was instantly pulled by a really strong current and she could feel her father's power directed into the current. She was being dragged by her father's power straight to his quarters most likely. She did nothing to fight it, so she simply crossed her arms like a child having a tantrum and waited to arrive at his palace.

A few hours later, Kayla found herself floating uncomfortably back home after twenty four months of being alone, in front of a furious godly father. His trident was glowing in his hands that made Kayla even more uncomfortable. The reason why she was able to escape in the first place was that her father's trident was stolen so his power lacked to sense that she had escaped. Now that he has it back, she could not escape anywhere. Suddenly she felt her father's aura diminish and he came and floated before his daughter with a very serious look on his face.

'You disappear for two years with no word home. I could not sense you anywhere in my domain when my trident was returned to me by Artemis. She saw right through me and forced me to tell her about you. I made her swear on the Styx to keep it a secret. For the past year and a half, Artemis and her hunters have been searching for you with no avail. Tell me, where in the name of my two brothers, you have been!' Poseidon bellowed, it made Kayla want to run away all over again.

'I-I was in… Alaska.' She replied. Poseidon almost fainted, that was a place no god would go as their powers have little affect there. Poseidon looked at his daughter painfully.

'Do you have any idea how lucky you are to be alive!? Alaska is a place beyond any of the gods, no wonder Artemis couldn't find you! You were in a place she would never dear to go! What were you thinking!?' Poseidon scolded harshly. Kayla felt her temper boil over.

'This wouldn't have even happened if you didn't lie to be about my mother. I didn't even know I had a brother! If you want someone to blame, blame yourself!' Kayla yelled back at her father trying to defend herself. Poseidon was taken aback as his eyes subsided into a looked of sadness and regret, Kayla had struck a painful subject.

'I am sorry I did not tell you the truth. Perhaps this is my entire fault. I have been blaming myself ever since Triton told me he saw you fleeing the palace. ' Poseidon spoke louder than a whisper as he turned away from Kayla. There was silence as the father and the daughter spent their reunion moments in a very unstable emotional conversation.

'I should have told you the truth, you see, when you were born, we had to separate you from your brother. You were both very powerful children who are decedents of the eldest gods, I, my brother Zeus and my other brother Hades. Our children give off a much more powerful scent to monsters so separating you from Percy was a given. It was a hard decision for your mother and I had to make, probably the hardest ever, but know this, everything I have ever done for you, was to protect you.' Poseidon said cupping her hands at the end. Kayla felt like her trust was being mended with her father again, it made her very happy, but one thing needed to be questioned.

'But why… why tell me she died? Why not tell me about Percy?' She choked. Poseidon sighed.

'If you knew about your mother or your brother, knowing you, you would stop at nothing to seek them out. I couldn't allow that to happen as my older brother Zeus does not know about you, and if he were to find out somehow through Hermes seeing you, he would do terrible things to you.'

'Like kill me?' She said bluntly. Poseidon's head dropped and nodded silently. She smiled.

'Then it's a good thing I went to Alaska then. I was out of his sight and any other of the god's sight.' She said. Poseidon grumbled and rolled his eyes.

'At least you are safe and back home.' Poseidon said as he floated back to his throne in his quarters. Kayla crossed her arms over her slightly bumping up chest.

'Dad I want to see my brother and my mom.' She stated, she could even feel her father tense up from where she was, as if he had been trying to avoid and lead her away from asking the request from him.

'Kayla I have watched you grow into a strong girl. You left my watchful eye for two years and now you have come back to me even stronger and mature. I trust now is a good time to for fill my promise to your mother and send you to Camp Half-Blood.' He said as he summed up her life in a few sentences.

'I have trained and schooled you well. It is now time for you to grow up and stand on your own two feet.' Poseidon continued proudly. Kayla coughed slightly, indicating that she had lived alone in Alaska for two years without her father's watchful eye. Poseidon whistled and instantly a sea horse appeared in the room.

'Escort my daughter to Long Island Sound, just on the shoreline of Camp Half Blood. I expect you to take the safest route possible.' Poseidon ordered.

'_Yes my lord.' _The sea horse responded mentally. Poseidon floated towards his daughter and placed both his hands on her shoulders.

'Percy has been through a lot just like you. He's completed two quests while you have been away. He's returned the Master Bolt to Zeus and saved Camp Half Blood from being destroyed by retrieving the Golden Fleece. However, surviving on your own in Alaska is a feat to be looked upon with great respect, I am proud you were able to survive on your own in that horrible place, but just in future, please be careful and make smart choices.' Poseidon spoke carefully. Kayla nodded and hugged her father as he returned the hug.

She decided not to tell him about the curse of fate and how her soul was now bound to two swords as that would upset him even more. She decided she would wait till the right moment to tell him, maybe in the next year or so once she figures out what this curse means and how it affects her.

'You haven't even been back more than two hours and I already have to say good-bye. At least I get too say it this time.' Poseidon chuckled lightly.

'Good-bye dad, I hope I'll get to see you soon.' She said as she floated out of his quarters with the sea horse and started off to go and see her brother for the first time.

Poseidon watched his daughter leave the palace, his mind very troubled.

'_Why is it every time I look at her since she's got back something feels very strange about her. It's like a godly aura… but a lot more clouded and dark.'_ Poseidon thought as he sat in his throne holding his trident with white knuckles.

'I need to see Artemis. I need her and her hunters to keep an eye on her for me. Something is very wrong here and my daughter is the very center of it.' Poseidon said vanishing in a flash of sea green mist.

-Line Break-

A/N: Hello again readers!

Yeah so this chapter was quite hard to write. It was mainly to kind of time explain what Kayla was doing during "The Lightening Thief" and "The Sea of Monsters."

I would also like to say that this is a rare chapter as i barely do Time Skips as I like to write in detail.

Another thing I would like to say that this story follows very much to the Cannon Story, just except Percy has a sister with a unique ability. This also means that quite a lot of things will change, and I'm not saying what, you will have to find out ;).

I have seen quite a few "Percy has a Sister Stories" and have always wanted to make one, except I wanted to make the sister have something that's unique about her.

Lastly, I do tend to have an obsession with commas and I put them in places that aren't exactly needed, so if this frustrates you in anyway, then, i'm sorry. Also I try my best to edit and correct spelling and grammar errors so if you spot one, two or a million throughout these chapters. Please don't smite me down :).

Thanks and I'll see you guys next chapter.


	3. Chapter Two

Chapter Two: First Impressions

Kayla continued to follow the sea horse her father prepared for her. Her patience was running thin as the trip was taking far too long. The water temperature was a lot warmer so she guessed they were somewhere close to Long Island, but finally as she was about to blow up out of frustration they had arrived at the shoreline of Camp Half Blood.

Kayla emerged from the water and willed herself to dry. No one was around which seemed strange as she was told years ago that Camp Half Blood was the main home to Demigods like her. If no one was around that meant that the other kids were doing something important. After saying goodbye to the sea horse she walked towards the center of camp. She saw a couple of kids as they were all busy doing their own thing. She felt so self-conscious as she didn't want anybody to notice her.

Her main objective was to find her brother Percy Jackson and stay with him, she didn't want any attention, however that all came to an end went she bumped into another as she was stuck in a day dream.

'Hey watch it… Hey, you look like Prissy Jackson, are you his sister or something?' The girl asked. It sounded more like an order to tell the girl her name.

'I'm looking for someone, my names Kayla.' The girl scoffed.

'And who might you be lookin for Kayla?' She said sounding bored. Kayla glared at the girl; the attitude got to her a lot. Big, tough and boastful, more like arrogant, cold, and selfish. Unfortunately she noticed the glare. The girl bent over and collared Kayla slightly.

'Who do you think you're looking at punk?' she said dangerously. Kayla growled as she started to get irritated with this girl. She was itching to draw her swords however, she stopped herself before she could.

'You, do you see anyone else around here?' Kayla retorted smartly. The girl was about to punch the fourteen year old before a blonde girl intervened.

'Clarisse, knock it off!' The other girl said coldly. Clarisse's head spun to see the blonde girl right up in her face with a killer stare. Clarisse let go of Kayla and smirked.

'Whatever Annabeth, you and your little girlfriend here will get what you deserve soon. I'll make sure of it.' And with that Clarisse walked off in the opposite direction. Kayla continued to glare at the Clarisse as she walked off. Kayla then turned to see the blonde haired girl looking at her as if she was studying her.

'Um, hello?' Kayla said with a smile. The blonde smiled back.

'Names Annabeth Chase, Clarisse can be like that most of the time, daughter of the god of war has some sort of gene that makes all of his children always looking it pick a fight.' Annabeth explained.

'I'm not scared of that loser, and the names Kayla Jackson, nice to meet you.' Annabeth seemed to be thrown off by the last name as her eyes narrowed.

'Jackson? Say, do you know anyone by the name of Percy Jackson?' She asked leaning closer. Kayla felt a sweat drop at how bad this girl was invading her personal space.

'Uh, yeah, in fact I'm actually looking for him right now… so… I'll see you around!' Kayla said trying to push past Annabeth but she stepped in front of Kayla.

'You're going the wrong way; the Poseidon Cabin is that way.' Annabeth giggled, pointing in the direction she just came from. Kayla rubbed her forehead and sighed deeply as she smiled and turned to continue walking..

'Okay, well thanks-'

'Ah, not so fast. I'm coming with you; I need to see Seaweed Brain about something.' Annabeth said walking in the direction of the Poseidon cabin. This girl was starting to get under Kayla's skin at how the way she talked and carried herself. If Kayla didn't know any better, she would say that girl is the daughter of Athena. Too bad Athena is a maiden so it wasn't possible.

Annabeth and Kayla walked side by side as they headed towards her brothers cabin. Kayla spared a few sideways glances to see Annabeth smirking and smiling as if she was waiting for something. Did she already piece together that she was Percy's sister?

It wasn't a long walk to the Poseidon cabin, but with every step Kayla started to tense up. This was the first time she was going to see her brother for real. She had never seen or heard him before, only based off what her father told her about him. Apparently he was already a hero around camp and that he had only been here for around a year or two.

As Annabeth walked up to the door to knock, Kayla was rooted to the spot. All her muscles froze up and serious nerve wracking feeling started to take over. She went beat red and she couldn't move.

'_What the Hades am I doing!? Get moving otherwise she'll think something's up!'_ Kayla mentally scolded herself. However Annabeth took noticed and smiled and gave her a look as if to say, "I'll help you out." It seemed like Annabeth had already figured it out. I mean how hard was it? The two looked like twins!

Annabeth knocked on the door, a voice from the inside came that Kayla couldn't exactly make out, but then the door opened. There in front of her, stood her older brother, who she had never seen and man did he look a lot like her. The resemblance was uncanny, the black unruly hair, the deep sea green eyes. They were the same height and a little tanned. Percy looked a little bigger in terms of muscle. He was a boy so the masculinity probably gave him the boost over Kayla.

'Hey Annabeth and… who's the new girl?' Percy asked dumbly. Kayla had to keep her mouth from dropping open and her jaw from hitting the floor. Percy didn't even know who she was! One good look at her and she thought Percy would have enough brains to figure it out! Annabeth looked like she was about to face palm and gave Percy a powerful nudge.

'Say hello, Seaweed Brain.' Annabeth hissed. Percy was rubbing his stomach where Annabeth had hit him.

'Um, hello there!' Percy said cheerfully trying to recover from his horrible introduction from before. Kayla had recovered from her shock and figured that she'll talk to him later. She couldn't just outright tell him that she was his sister. Kayla decided it would be better to wait to be claimed like her father said she would.

'Forget it. I'll talk to you later.' Kayla said sticking up her nose at Percy and spinning round on her heel and walking in the opposite direction. Percy just stared at her as she walked away while Annabeth just rolled her eyes and asked Percy if he had seen Grover around anywhere. As Annabeth ran off to catch up with Kayla, Percy just stood at the door of his cabin completely confused.

'Females…' he muttered, as he turned and walked back into his cabin and closing the door.

Kayla continued to walk aimlessly around camp before Annabeth caught up to her and laughed a little.

'You're his sister aren't you?' Kayla snorted,

'Oh gee, how'd you know?' Kayla said sarcastically. Annabeth giggled a little.

'Well, I'm the daughter of Athena so intelligence and piecing things together aren't very hard. Your last name is Jackson, you were looking for Percy. You have an uncanny resemblance to Percy. You reek of the salt from the Ocean. Something there screams daughter of Poseidon.' Annabeth listed off with a smirk.

'My brother is an idiot.' Kayla groaned. This made Annabeth crack up laughing.

'Well in the departments of common sense and decency, yes. When it comes to fighting and protecting others, he always knows what he's doing. You can rely on him whenever you in danger and you can always count on him to do the right thing…' Annabeth said going into a day dream with a silly grin on her face. Kayla smiled evilly.

'You have a crush on my brother!' Kayla yelled. This caught Annabeth off guard causing her to go beat red.

'W-what! I do not! He's just a really good friend.' Annabeth argued. Kayla continued to show up Annabeth with an evil smile on her face.

'Really! Explain the blushing then and how you were just sucked into a day dream about him as you were explaining how dreamy he is!' Kayla said going on the offence, Annabeth couldn't respond, she was truly stuck. Kayla lightened up with the evil smile and returned to a light smile.

'Don't worry, I won't say a word.' Kayla replied giving her a little playful slap. Annabeth tried to open her mouth to say something but Kayla continued.

'How'd I know? You're extremely easy to read, if you always like Percy like this, I find it incredibly insensitive that he hasn't even noticed your feelings about him yet.' Kayla said. Annabeth smiled and then starting moaning.

'I know right! I'm giving him so many signs and opportunity's but there's obviously so much Seaweed clogging his stupid brain that he can't even notice!' Annabeth started, and so the two talked about Percy for hours as they aimlessly walked around the camp. Annabeth was talking mostly about their adventures since she is the one that knows Percy better than Kayla… at the moment anyway. Kayla started to dismiss her old feelings on Annabeth, she was actually really interesting to talk to, and be with. She was kind hearted and gentle with what she said about Percy.

'Wait, you said you were a daughter of Athena… how's that possible, I thought she was a maiden?' Kayla asked changing the subject. Annabeth seemed to frown.

'That's something I'd rather not talk about…' Annabeth responded in a lower, sadder voice. Kayla decided to drop the subject, as it was clearly a bad subject in her books.

Kayla also got to tell her about how she spent two years in Alaska after screaming at her father when she first found out about Percy and her mother. Annabeth almost fainted, as she had read up on Alaska and it was supposed to be a monster-fest over there. That was when Annabeth first heard about the weapons Kayla carried. She had a bad vibe when Kayla told her what happened when she picked up the weapons, but dismissed them and decided she would read up on it later.

Annabeth decided to take Kayla to the big house to meet Chiron, the camp director and introduce Kayla as a new camper that would be staying with them for a while. Kayla told Annabeth she wanted to keep her parentage a secret until she was claimed, because that's when she would want to speak to Percy, and mostly like he would want to talk to her as well.

As the two entered the Big House, Chiron was in his wheel chair sitting by the fire place reading what seemed to be a newspaper. As soon as the two entered the room, Chiron saw Kayla and smiled and motioned for them to sit down as he rolled up his newspaper and placed it on his lap.

'Hello my dear, what is your name?' Chiron asked nicely. Kayla sighed as she recalled Annabeth telling her that Percy and Chiron were quite close.

'Kayla Jackson, sir.' She said. Chiron's eyebrow seemed to rise slightly.

'And yes, Percy Jackson is my brother. I want to wait till I'm claimed by my father Poseidon before I tell him though. It'll just make things a little easier.' She said. Chiron frowned as a thought passed through his mind.

'_Another child of the big three… this is getting troublesome. Strange I feel something dark and powerful around her, but there's nothing there. What does that mean? I have never felt this before, it's strange.' _Chiron thought to himself.

'Forgive my stare; I am just accessing how the gods could not have seen another child of the big three. Kayla, I take it you know that being a child of the big three that you have a hidden depth of extraordinary power. However, I will make an announcement at tonight's feast. There is when you should be claimed if Poseidon said he will claim you. If he said he would claim you, then he will claim you tonight in front of the camp to signify that you are his daughter.' Chiron said. And here Kayla thought she didn't want any attention, her father was going to practically scream it out in front of the entire camp.

The conversation didn't last very long as Chiron quickly dismissed Annabeth and Kayla and told them to be at the Mess in around thirty minutes. As Annabeth walked out with Kayla, Annabeth had an idea of who would want to meet Kayla.

'Hey Kaykay; I should introduce you to Thalia. She's a daughter of Zeus and was only revived from that tree a few weeks ago. I think you two will get along really well.' Annabeth suggested. Kayla deadpanned at the nickname.

'Kaykay…' She said with a frown and an un-amused look. Annabeth giggled slightly again.

'Come on, it's not as bad as being called Seaweed Brain. That's Percy's nickname, and I'm Wise girl to him. I think Kaykay is fine.' Annabeth chuckled lightly. They both walked to the Zeus cabin making simple talk until they got there. When they got there, Annabeth knocked on the door and Thalia opened the door with a sleepy look on her face.

'You would think spending most of your life as a tree you would have had enough sleep…' Annabeth joked. Thalia sent her a cold glare.

'That's not funny Annie.' Thalia smirked at calling her Annie. Annabeth growled.

'Don't. Call. Me. Annie!' Thalia giggled and smirked at the angry blonde.

'Anyway, who's this girl? Jackson's sister I take it?' Kayla's heart dropped again, another person who figured it out instantly.

'Do I even have to ask how you know?' Kayla said with a slight frown and monotone voice.

'Well, not really. Any idiot could figure that out. You look like him, well the female version of him, and you stink of sea salt.' Thalia said walking out of her cabin.

'Well obviously not all idiots. Seaweed Brain didn't even notice the first time he laid eyes on her.' Annabeth said. Thalia just sighed and grumbled.

'Boys are always so stupid.' Thalia muttered under her breath. Annabeth decided to change the subject.

'Anyway, we got a meeting in the Mess right about now. Chiron's going to introduce Kayla here to the camp. Chiron also thinks Poseidon will claim her at that moment.' Annabeth said, Thalia grinned.

'Well? What are we waiting for, I want to see the stupid look Kelp head has on his face when he finally figures out he has a sister.' Thalia laughed as she made her way to the Mess. Annabeth laughed with her and walked with her leaving Kayla standing in the same spot in complete wonder.

'_Just how many nicknames does my brother have!?'_ Kayla thought as she turned and ran after the two friends she had just made.

-Line Break-

Kayla found herself standing in front of the entire Camp in the Mess hall while they were stilling at their tables. Her eyes wondered around the place to find Annabeth sitting at the table with all of her siblings, then to Thalia who sat alone at Zeus's table. Then finally to her brother who had his eyes glued to her which started to make her nervous. His look told her his gears were turning in his head.

Kayla would often catch countless campers staring at Percy and then staring at her as if they were comparing the two. No doubt the entire camp by now had pieced it together and where just waiting for either her to be claimed or Percy to jump and shout out that she is his sister.

Half way through Chiron's speech, he was interrupted by a golden light at appeared on the top of Kayla's head. The entire camp gasped as she looked over at Percy who was just awestruck. She looked up and realized what the commotion was all about. She had been claimed not only by Poseidon, which was the green trident, but there was another image. An image of two swords crossed over each other, one black and one white, both katana sized weapons the hovered over her head in a fading image. Kayla's blood went cold as she instantly identified the two swords. It was the two swords she had picked up not too long ago to save her life. One phrase echoed in her mind as her eyes were glued to the image.

'_You will bear the curse of fate._

_'Have I just been claimed by the sisters of fate?' _Kayla thought. A horrible pain shot through her forehead as she fell to her knees. Her vision blurred as she looked around.

Black fire was burning all around her, the Mess was in total chaos as the wood and tables were destroyed and on fire, dead corpses lay around her feet. She looked at her hands and they were stained in blood. Her eyes started to tear up and she started to choke on her sobs.

She ran out of the burning Mess hall and out into the center of the Camp. She looked around completely horrified. Everything she saw was on fire, the cabins were lit ablaze in Greek fire and the trees around the camp were burning. Various screams from the nature spirits were heard as Kayla felt like she was going insane.

She didn't understand what was happening. One minute everything was fine and the next, everything seems to be like hell on earth. This couldn't be real, it had to be some sort of illusion or some sort of horrible nightmare that she was having.

She felt a presence behind her and instantly summoned her weapons to her side as she thought about killing and surviving. The black blade simmered into her right hand and the white blade shot out from the bracelet and rested nicely in her left hand.

The being that stood before her was… herself? A shadow more like it, her skin and clothes evaporated black smoke. The shadow walked forward, the ground being consumed in a black fire wherever her black doppelganger stood. Its raspy voice cut through the air and made her skin crawl.

'**This is what you will become. The shadow buried deep within your mind will escape and destroy all things, and know that it's your fault for being weak. You took up the curse of fate not knowing what the consequences were and for that; the fear of what you do not understand only makes me stronger.' **The shadow spoke as it slowly made its way towards her. Kayla couldn't believe she was hearing this. The being before her was a dark power locked within her mind? And it was saying that her fear of what lies before her only makes it stronger?

If this is her mind, why is it on fire?

'**Look around you. This is the fire of my burning hatred for you. I will haunt you, until you cannot take anymore and then… then I will consume your body in a black flame. I do not know how you stumbled upon the swords, but I will not allow one as weak as you to wield them.' **Kayla was about to respond before three beings appeared beside her. The shadow's eyes remained stone cold.

'You will do no such thing!' Lachesis shouted. Kayla turned to find the three sisters of fate standing at her side, aiding her in her confrontation of the shadow. Clotho turned to Kayla and smiled.

'Be strong Kayla, you are wielding our symbol of power. To gain control over our weapon, you must first find the answer and the origin to this shadow. Be warned this is a very dangerous road. If you failure, you will doom this entire world to a fate of flame and shadow.' Clotho warned, Atropos walked forward and put on of her hands on Kayla's shoulder.

'We the sisters of fate believe you can wield this power, you have a pure heart and selfless intentions. This is fate we cannot see and there is no telling what will happen in the near future. You bear the curse of our power, and that being, that shadow, is the curse. It's the negative energy of you, it's your opposite.' Atropos explained.

'**Enough! You worthless sisters place your trust in a demigod!? How disgusting, and this I will not stand for-'** The shadow version of Kayla was cut off as Kayla ran up to the shadow and punched it in the face.

'You need to learn to shut up. This is my head, so get the Hades out!' Kayla screamed. The shadow was speechless but then its face morphed into a look of sadness and hatred as the fired burnt larger and more violent around her.

'**I will always be here weather you defeat me or not. I will be the shadow in your dreams, the nightmare of your sleep! Do not think this curse will be a walk in the park for you, I will make this exceptionally painful for you to bear!'** the shadow screamed as he faded into a black mist. Kayla turned back to the sisters of fate who were no longer there. Kayla started to feel woozy as she blinked she could her voices around her.

'Kayla! Kayla! Kayla!' Annabeth yelled. Kayla opened her eyes to find Chiron, Percy, Thalia, Annabeth and a couple of other people she didn't know. She had passed out on the beach. She pushed herself up and blinked a couple of times. A few of relief filled sighs were heard as Kayla looked around.

'Well that was creepy. At least her eyes are back to normal.' Travis said.

'Man you said it, I've never been so scared in my life!' Conner said sitting down on the sand. Kayla looked around, nothing seemed to be on fire, and it seemed to be a rather peaceful night, until she caught sight of Thalia's bloody nose.

'W-what happened to your nose?' Kayla said. Thalia growled as she rubbed it.

'You don't remember slugging me right in the face when I was trying to help you?' She snorted.

'It wasn't me I swear!' Kayla argued.

'We know it wasn't you, or you weren't yourself. I mean, your eyes changed from sea green normal to like… a black smoky fire. You also attacked Percy with one of those swords you were using. Good thing he's good at dodging otherwise Seaweed Brain would be sea food!' Annabeth said. Kayla sighed, there was no getting out of this, the looks on their faces saw that she knew what had happened and was hiding something.

'My dear, you must tell us what is wrong.' Chiron urged. Kayla sighed and looked like she was about to cry.

'You have to swear on the Styx not to tell the rest of the camp. I want all of your oaths not to tell a single camper other than the ones that are here already.' Kayla said. They did as she said although the Stroll brothers were having a hard time agreeing to that. After they had all sworn on the Styx Kayla started to explain where is all started.

'It started when I was twelve; I had run away from home after my father had lied to me about my mother and my brother. I was so upset that ran away to a place where my father could not reach me.' Kayla started. Although Annabeth had heard about this, it was only brief. Chiron on the other hand was starting to feel a little worried for the daughter of Poseidon; he had a feeling where she had run off to.

'After a few days, I found out that I had arrived in Alaska, the land beyond the gods reach and watchful eye. At the time I didn't know so I didn't exactly care. I lived there and survived for around two years, battling off little assaults from monsters each day but one day, the day before I came home. What looked like an army of monsters closed in on me, I had no choice but to run. After running for a while, the monsters cut me off at every corner, and it felt like this was not random attack, it felt like it was planned.' Kayla explained. Percy shuddered a bit.

'Planned attacks by monsters a very hard to escape…' Percy mumbled. Kayla turned to him and gave him a weak smile.

'I was cornered in the middle of a street and the only way to escape was down. I went down into the sewers to escape and catch my breath. I ended up falling backwards into this secret door of some sort and ending up finding a very large windy stair case. I concluded that staying and pounding on the closed door wasn't getting me anywhere so I followed the stair case down to the bottom. At the bottom was a large stone door with a carving of the three sisters of fate on it.' This made Chiron very uneasy as he recalled a legend he had hear from one of his campers a few years back.

'I pushed open the door and in the middle of the room was two swords… one black, one white. T-there was a warning inscribed on the side of the stone slab, that said exactly these words…' She was almost on the verge of tears as her voice became weaker and weaker.

**'The Curse of Fate lies dormant,**

**The power to change, the power to save and the power to kill,**

**Bear the curse of fate and your soul will be eternally bound to the blades.'**

She recited perfectly. This made everyone's blood run colder than ice. Kayla burst into tears as Percy brought her into a nice warm hug. She cried on his shoulder as she recalled the events further.

'I-I was going to turn back… but I heard voices and growls from monsters that were f-following my scent. I was cornered again with no way out this time. S-so I picked up the blades and this pain… this pain felt as if my soul was in eternal punishment. It felt like my body was covered in Greek fire.' Kayla had managed to get a hold of herself and continue with the last part of her story.

'The monsters came into the room and circled me, I remember it all, six hell-hounds and three Cyclops's and four gorgons. I killed them all, and the gorgons ran away before I got to them. After that is a blur really. I wake up the next day at the bottom of the ocean with my wounds healed. That was yesterday.' Kayla said. Percy was still hugging his long lost sister who he ever knew he had until an about a few minutes. He couldn't imagine what type of ordeals she had been through at Alaska and she only had the resolve to stay alive because she wanted to see her brother and her mother for once.

Everyone was silent as Kayla finished her story; Annabeth finally knew what she was going to read up on. The curse of fate; that would be the first thing she would find. Thalia had instantly forgiven Kayla when her story reminded her of her runaway days with Luke and Annabeth, but that wasn't in Alaska. This was in a populated country with the mist and the gods always had their watchful eye over their children. On a couple of occasions, Thalia would find things that Zeus would send them to keep them alive such as mortal money, or clothes in some form.

Chiron was deeply disturbed by the story. This child was definitely powerful to hold a weapon so powerful and bear burden to such a heavy curse. He decided he would do everything in his power to make sure this girl is safe from harm.

Percy on the other hand, had an idea that she would like and decided to ask Chiron.

'Excuse me Chiron, can I have permission to leave camp with my sister here to meet our mother. I think she deserves to meet the person who raised me and I think my mom would like to see her daughter.' Percy stated. Kayla looked up at Percy and smiled, Annabeth was right; you could count on him to make you feel better. Chiron gave a weak smile.

'Alright then Percy, you may take Kayla back with you to see Sally. However, Annabeth and Thalia will be around to pick you two up with a mission that involves Grover. He's found two new half-bloods up around Westover School. It will be a quick rescue mission, get the kids and get back here immediately.' Chiron ordered and began to make his way back to the big house. Kayla looked back at Percy and realised he still hadn't let go of her yet. He looked down at her.

'How would you like to see our cabin sis?' Percy said smiling. Kayla could help but cry again as she had finally, in the first time in her life, had been reunited with her brother. No one noticed a certain somebody shed a tear as she was reminded of her lost brother when she was around seven. He had disappeared from her side and was never found since.

'_Jason… where did you go?'_ Thalia thought to herself.

-Line Break-

The time she had spent with Percy at camp was wondrous. She had never felt so protected walking around with someone before now. Percy really carried himself when it came to standing up to people like Clarisse and he really showed courage. Kayla had to admit he is a bit of a goof at times and didn't really know how to act around others and often acted like he always knew what was going on.

However, time at camp flew by very quickly as Kayla soon found herself in the backseat of the camp van with Percy. The van was driven by Argus, which seemed safe as the guy had as many eyes as she could bother to count; it was kind of creepy in a way. As they drove into New York, Kayla was amazed. She had never seen a city like this before. Her father's kingdom under the water was very large and busy, but this place was just different. Kayla couldn't help but sit in the seat with her eyes glued to looking out the window until she was interrupted by a low chuckle.

'You look so amazed by the city. I take it you have never seen a city this big before?' Percy questioned. Kayla frowned.

'No, I was too busy living in our father's city to notice there were bigger cities on the surface.' Kayla said looking backing out the window. Percy's jaw hit the floor.

'You were living in dads place!? Wow, I've only been there like once and that place was awesome.' Percy said in a jealous tone. Kayla stuck out her tongue and laughed at Percy for trying to do the same.

'Well I got to live with an awesome mom who made blue pancakes!' Percy said trying to top the fact his sister got to live with dad and he was barely aloud to visit. Kayla gasped sarcastically,

'Blue pancakes! Aw man, I am soooo jealous.' She said with a bored tone.

'I got access to any food I wanted, when I wanted.' Kayla smirked in victory. Percy opened his mouth to say something smart in response but just shut his mouth and gave up. Kayla poked him a few times and giggled.

'I win, I win!' She chanted. Percy decided to challenge her to a little game of back seat wrestling that both of them refused to give in. With little girlish screams from Kayla and a few laughs from Percy, he eventually won when he had her pinned under his arm. Unfortunately they had arrived before Kayla were to make her move which she claimed was to get pinned was her plan all along.

The two got out and Kayla followed Percy into the apartment block that was Percy's mortal home and the home of her mother. The two were already acting like they knew each other for years, racing each other up the stairs and deliberately trying to trip one another up. Kayla was having too much fun to notice that they had reached the door and Percy had stopped being so hyper and looked very calm and collected.

Kayla tried doing the same however the same nerves started to resurface the same time she was going to see Percy the first time. She had seen Sally before, that one time when she ran away from her father's palace through that Iris message thing. Sally was a beautiful attractive woman who had a very kind and gentle heart.

When Percy opened the door, the smell of freshly baked muffins and cookies found its way into Kayla's sense of smell. She was instantly taken away by the smell when she realized she hadn't eaten all day. They had left in the morning around ten o'clock and had arrived in New York at around two o'clock. Percy walked in and took his shoes off and Kayla followed in accordingly.

'Hi mom, _we're_ home.' Percy said casually. He realized he just spoiled the surprise when Kayla gave him a short nudge. He scratched his head and smiled awkwardly.

'Oops' He said. Sally came around the corner out of the kitchen and the biggest smile Kayla had ever seen lit up on her face.

'Percy and… Kayla! So your father decided to finally send you to camp. I am so glad to find out you were okay. As soon as you returned, the first thing you father did was contact me.' Sally said, but her happy mood changed into a harsh mood, and Kayla could feel Sally was about to tell her off for running away from home and her father's protection.

'Kayla, how could you run away from home like that?! You made your father and I worried sick! After the first year we thought you had died and after the second, we felt like giving up hope. You are lucky young lady that you are even alive for being away from home so long.' Sally scolded, putting her hands on her hips. Kayla looked shamed. Looking back on the tantrum she had, she realized that it was really stupid of her to run away from home, if she didn't she wouldn't have to bear this stupid curse of fate.

'Now, you two, go take those dirty clothes off and have a nice clean shower while I prepare lunch. Kayla I'll get some of my older clothes and see if they will fit you. I haven't got much, but it will have to do while I wash those clothes you have on.' Sally said. Kayla looked down at her clothing, it was so dirty, you could see so many stains on them, and not to mention the claw marks that were still present on the shirt she was wearing. She hadn't changed clothes since that fight; it felt so foul and gross.

Kayla had realized her inner girlish instincts were starting to kick in as she started to think about what sort of clothes her mom was going to get for her. She seriously hoped her mom wasn't a hipster when she was her age that would be embarrassing! The clothes would be so out of style and the fashion would be so old it would have been laughable. Kayla turned to Percy and saw what he was about to do, Kayla was not going to allow that, she needed it so bad and she was not going to let her brother get it first.

'I call first shower!' Kayla yelled loudly as she ran to the closest water source which happened to be the bathroom. She could hear Percy curse loudly behind her as she knew he wanted first shower as his first class at camp was swordsman training and he built up a large sweat working out.

Kayla shut and door and locked it tight and stripped down. She saw herself in the mirror and dam she wouldn't admit it to others or boast about it, but in her current shape, she looked really dam fine. She did a couple of twirls and pursed her lips but immediately stopped.

'_No, I saw the Aphrodite kids doing that. That's just lame and stupid.'_ She thought to herself as turned on the shower and stepped in. She controlled the water temperature and heated it up immediately to a comfortable temperature. The fresh water felt amazing on her skin as it washed away the dirt and grime off her and sunk down the plug hole. She hadn't used shampoo in like, never. It was actually the first time she was to use it. She didn't really need to wash her hair because she just lived underwater so it never got tangled or stuff caught in it anyway.

She massaged it through her scalp and it felt amazing. She could feel how smooth her hair had become as she started to wash it out. Her long black hair now stretched down to her tail bone, and was getting way to long for her liking. As she finished in the shower, she twirled her hair into a bunch and squeezed all the water out and proceeds to self-dry herself with her powers. She also wrapped a towel around her as she looked back into the mirror that was now fogged up from the steamy water. Her eye had caught some scissors on the cabinet shelf that was half open. She reached up and picked them up and proceeded to cut her own hair to her liking.

Percy was starting to get frustrated with how long his sister was taking. She had been in the bathroom now for fifty minutes and was still currently in there. The shower was turned off so she was probably doing something stupid and pointless so he decided to knock on the door to hurry her up.

'Kayla, can you like, I don't know, hurry up in there please!' Percy shouted. A growl was heard from the other side.

'I'm cutting my hair, be patient Perce!' Kayla responded. Percy felt like kicking the door down and walking in there and taking a shower himself, but seeing his sister half naked, if not completely exposed would not put him in her good books. Percy had to admit, she was strong and very much interdependent. Maybe even to the point we're she was a little too strong. Percy also thought about the swords she mentioned, the swords she claimed to carry. He was worried about her when it came to those swords. Annabeth had told him the day before he left, that there was little to no information on swords like those she had.

The black and white katana's that his sister duel wielded had appeared above her head in the claiming along with his father's symbol. What did that mean? Also, what was this curse of fate and what did that mean? So far, there was nothing physically wrong with Kayla, but as Percy saw clearly, she was taken over by something in her mind and caused her to almost knock out Thalia and turn him into sliced sushi. At the time, she only used one sword and that was the white one. The white chain at the back of the sword seemed like it was trying to wrap itself around her arm, but before it could, the being that took over her had retreated to the beach where it passed out leaving his sister face first in the sand.

'_I swear I will try and make her life as easy as I can. I will take all of her fights and fight to protect her and Annabeth and Thalia. I swear I will protect all my friends.'_ Percy vowed to himself. In that moment, Kayla exited the bathroom with a whole new look. Her hair was cut so it was just horizontal with her shoulders. Her sea green eyes seemed to sparkle as Percy looked into them and she had a nice brownish tan to her, still mostly white out of the corner of your eye but she looked very healthy. She made her way to the kitchen to find their mother to collect her clothes. Percy then without a second thought entered the shower and stripped down and hopped in.

'_She is very interesting. I think I'll like having a sister around…'_ Percy thought happily as he rested on the shower wall, exhausted from the van ride into the city and his lesson this morning.

-Line Break-

The next day was a fun peaceful time for the Jackson's, Sally would take them both out for lunch and surprisingly there were no monster attacks. It felt like someone was trying to make their lives easy for a change. Percy would often spot the occasional monster but disappeared after the monster went around the corner.

For once, Percy felt like he had a normal day. No monsters, nothing trying to kill and eat him or his family. Just a normal mortal day and it was great. Percy never had days like these apart from the times when he was little when he had no idea he was a demigod, and apparently, knowing you're a demigod enhances your sent and makes you a living beacon for all monsters. That's also why they were told to avoid using phones at all costs on quests as it pretty much screams to monsters in the area, "Hello, I'm right here, eat me please!" In a way that Percy would put it.

Kayla managed to buy some clothes at she actually liked which was very similar to clothes Annabeth wore. Just casual stuff, nothing that would stand out like Thalia would wear. She was the Gothic type of girl, loved black and silver chains. She was the type of girl you would look at and think she was into cutting herself and other various disgusting rituals, but in reality she was just a normal girl who just generally liked the color black and liked chains.

Kayla also managed to convince Sally to buy her an iPod touch, which was strange because they always get confiscated in camp and handed back when the campers go home for summer break. Kayla used the excuse that she wanted to see more of the mortal world technology and experience it for herself which Percy laughed at earning him a painful punch to the gut.

However peaceful times come to an end just as fast as they start. The day rolled round when one peaceful morning, Thalia and Annabeth knocked on the door of the Jackson residence signalling that it was time to fetch Grover, and the two half-bloods he had found. Kayla had asked Percy who Grover was and Percy told her that he was one of Percy's best friends before and after he found out he was a demigod. When Percy told her he was a satyr and he was a bit clumsy at times, she couldn't wait to meet him. Mainly she like Percy's group of friends, although they were mostly girls, Grover was the first boyish person Percy sounded like he had.

Sally had been kind enough to drive the group all the way up to Westover which Annabeth protested about her safety which Sally kindly ignored. On the drive up, Percy was not ready for the surprise conversation on his toddler life as Sally continued to ignore his complaints of how embarrassing it was to have three girls laughing at him, of which one included his almost twin sister. However, it was Kayla's turn now to be embarrassed as now Sally started talking about things that their father had told their mother of embarrassing and funny moments that involved poor little Kayla.

This time it was Percy, Annabeth and Thalia laughing at her while she blushed heavily and pretended to stare out the window listing to tracks from her favorite Linkin Park albums on her iPod. As Sally reached the part when Kayla ran away from home, she immediately cut herself off at that point knowing that it was both an extremely hard time for both her and Poseidon and her daughter. The car ride was silent from then until Thalia started telling embarrassing stories about Annabeth which Percy took a lot of interest in. And so it became a battle of who could tell the most embarrassing story about who, who in the end, Annabeth won over Thalia with a horrific misunderstanding story about her and Luke, which she did not want to talk about in the slightest.

When they arrived at Westover, everyone was eager to leave the car and forget about all the embarrassing stories that were told.

'All in favor to what happened in the car ride here, stays in that car.' Percy said rising his hand and looking at everyone else. Immediately everyone agreed and started making their way up to Westover Hall after they said their goodbyes to Sally as she took off back home.

Kayla took one look at the bracelets on her wrists that she almost forgot were there. She took a heavy sigh and followed in pursuit of the others. She hoped that she wouldn't have to use them that often. Kayla looked on the bright side, at least she wouldn't be taken for granted, she already proved that she was a strong independent girl. She survived in Alaska for two years on her own, going on dangerous quests couldn't be much difficult right?

Right?

-Line Break-

A/N: Hello readers!

Alright, when I started to write this story, this was the hardest chapter to write (so far), as I rewrote it a least five times. I'm still kind of unsatisfied with the result, but I really cant see any other way to write this chapter.

It's kinda boring and no action, but this chapter was the Introduction to "The Titans Curse" and it was mainly about introducing Kayla to camp and her meeting her brother and seeing this monster that now currently lives inside of her head and is threatening to kill her and take control of her body. So next chapter, you will start to see the Titans Curse events come into play.

Sorry if the whole inner world and inner shadow/demon isn't your type of thing, but I wanted to make Kayla have something unique and her own sort of problems she has to face, along with helping her friends and such.

And I also promise the chapters start getting larger from now on,

Once again, i try my hardest to edit, so don't murder me if you see a million mistakes, I'm an amateur writer and this is fanfiction so... yeah :).

Thanks and I'll see you guys next chapter :)


	4. Chapter Three

Chapter Three: Frostbite and Capture the Flag

It was cold, very, very cold. The snow was thick and Kayla was attempting to use her powers to heat up the water in her blood but that almost made her sick and to the point where she looked so red she looked like she was about to pop. Percy warned her to not do that again as it worried him and their companions to the point where they also felt sick as well.

As Percy and the group looked up at Westover Hall, you could see the comical flashes of lightening just above the Castle like in some cheesy Frankenstein movie. This place did not look like a school in the slightest; it looked like a fortress, with black towers and old fashioned wooden doors. As they all stood at the entrance, all of them felt like they were being waited for as the doors seemed to open on its own.

Percy being the generally fearless one in the group walked right in with a slight smile on his while his sister hissed for him to wait a minute while Annabeth and Thalia were hissing that it would be a trap. He shrugged and walked in while the girls sighed in defeat and followed him in.

As they walked in, Percy's sword hand drifted to his pocket to where his trusty bronze sword Anaklusmos that lay inside his pocket in its pen form, waiting to be used. Thalia was fingering her wrist, twitching to pull out Aegis. Annabeth was carefully watching Kayla out of the corner of her eye as she also had a hand free to pull out her dagger if needed. Kayla remained calm as she flexed her fingers just in case she needed to pull out her cursed swords to fight.

They watched as a female teacher approached them with careful and very frightening eyes.

'And what are you children doing trying to sneak into the ball?' Percy was so focused on finding Grover that he forgot that they would obviously be questioned about four young teenagers sneaking into a school party at night. However before any of them could respond, a male teacher came out of the shadows behind them and snarled a very inhuman growl.

'What do we have here?! Students wishing to sneak into the party? You shall be _eee_-jected immediately!' The male teacher said. However Thalia walked up to the female teacher and snapped her fingers in front of her eyes.

'You remember us don't you? It's us: Thalia, Annabeth, Percy and his sister Kayla. We're eighth grade and we were a little late in coming.' Thalia stated. The female teacher seemed to blink a bit as if she had forgotten something and was trying to remember. However Kayla saw that whatever Thalia had just done to the female teacher, it had not worked on the male teacher as he eyed the four of them very carefully.

'Ms Gottschalk, you do know these children?' The male teacher asked. Kayla could feel Percy beside her bite his tongue trying not to laugh; she was tempted to laugh but obviously had more self-control than her brother did. She elbowed him in the ribs quite hard which earned a painful grunt which Annabeth couldn't help but giggle at.

'_Those two are so like each other, but at the same time completely different. Good thing Kayla has more self-control than Seaweed Brain.' _Annabeth thought.

'Y-yes, I do know these children… Thalia, Annabeth and the Jackson siblings.' Ms Gottschalk stuttered out. Just before the male teacher was about to question it any further, someone had just come to save their butts from the teachers.

'Percy! Oh, man I didn't think you guys had made it yet!' Grover said running towards them tripping over slightly with each few steps. When he got there, he stood at Percy's side and looked at the male teacher and bowed.

'Sorry Dr Thorn, these guys are with me.' Grover said sounding a little nervous. Dr Thorn eyed the nervous satyr carefully and then turned to walk away with Ms Gottschalk.

'I trust you will show these children around the gym Mr Underwood?' Thorn called out. Grover responded with a 'Yes sir' and gestured for the group to follow him through the main doors. Annabeth eyed Dr Thorn once more and then dismissed any thoughts about him having a very monster-like vibe.

As the group followed Grover into the Gym, he lead them to the side out of the way of the all the dancing and people going crazy at the music that was playing.

'There.' Grover pointed at the stands. The group followed to where Grover was pointing and their eyes arrived on two children, a male and a female. It was clear the girl was older as she was ignoring her brother's protests to play some card game with him. Suddenly Thalia hissed at the group to act natural as they realized Dr Thorn was watching the group from a distance. In a few seconds Kayla found herself standing by herself as Annabeth had dragged Percy away to dance with him and Thalia did the same with Grover.

Kayla took watch, by leaning on a wall and analyzing every possible exit and opportunity a monster could take to get to the children. It was a small little skill she learnt while consistently being attacked and targeted by monsters in Alaska. Her brain was consistently in semi-combat mode, as any half-blood should be when not at camp or in a safe environment. This was one of those times.

The song changed to a slow dance for the romantic couples. She caught sight of Grover stumbling and stepping on Thalia's feet which for every time she seemed to cringe in pain while Grover frantically kept apologizing for. Then Kayla saw Percy and Annabeth and man did they look uncomfortable. Percy was kind of looking the other direction and Annabeth was blushing the color of cool-aid. She also looked kind of angry that Percy was actually trying not to pay attention!

Kayla shook her head and chuckled. She would have to give Percy lessons on how to communicate with females; it was embarrassing how inexperienced and insensitive Percy was when it came to Annabeth. It was also so obvious they both had something in for each other.

Something inside Kayla jumped as she remembered what she was supposed to be doing in the first place. Her head snapped back to where the kids were sitting and what she found made her blood chill to feel like ice.

The kids were gone, and so was Dr Thorn.

Kayla cursed in ancient Greek and ran towards where they were sitting. Her eyes darted around for any possible clues and sure enough, one of the fire exits was open, leading into the cold snow. Kayla ran for the door and saw that the alarms wired to the door had been cut by something very, very sharp. She looked out into the dark trees and saw foot prints… or claw prints.

'_What the hell is going on here!? These are Manticore marks, I would have sensed a Manticore around here… what's happened, it doesn't look like there are any human like foot prints following the trail.' _Kayla thought to herself. She turned back and walked in a very fast pace to find her brother, but he had also disappeared. Suddenly she ran into a blonde blur and ended up falling atop of whoever it was.

She managed to push who it was off and found that it was Annabeth and she looked more panicked than Kayla did.

'Where's Percy!?' They both said at the same time. Then they both went pale, maybe whoever this monster was had kidnapped not only the two demigods they were trying to get but Percy as well. That meant they were dealing with an experienced demigod kidnapper if he or whoever it was managed to slip not only Kayla and Annabeth but Grover and Thalia, and make off with the two demigods and one of their own.

Kayla felt her blood boil to a point where one of her eyes went pure black. Annabeth shuffled back and put her hands up to try and calm Kayla down.

'Kayla… let's just calm down now. Now's not the time to go crazy…' Annabeth said very slowly. Annabeth was freaking out; she didn't have time for Kayla to go all crazy with those black eyes and creepy powers. She needed the level headed Kayla in control and she also needed Thalia and Grover. Luckily, both those needs were for filled as Kayla calmed down just as Thalia and Grover appeared through the crowd and helped the two up.

'Thalia, we got a problem, the two kids are gone and we can't find Percy either.' Thalia's eyes widened as she realized how much trouble they were in.

'What the Hades Annabeth! He was with you and now he's vanished! What happened!?' Thalia almost screamed. Annabeth seemed to stutter to try and find a response.

'It all happened so fast, I saw Kayla freak out and run to an empty spot where I realized that's where the two kids were. I also couldn't find Dr Thorn so I ran around trying to see where the kids were. Next thing I know, Percy's gone and Kayla and I end up on the floor!' Annabeth said.

'Guys! I saw one of the exits open with _not_ human tracks ending out into the forest, but that was before Percy disappeared.' Kayla said. Thalia instantly made her way towards the open exit but Annabeth was quick to cut her off.

'What are you doing!? We don't even know if those are the right tracks.' Annabeth protested. Thalia was about to start a heated argument with her but instead heard Grover yelp.

'I-it's that way!' Grover said starting to run. All the girls watched him as he started to run alongside the tracks that were made in the snow.

'What!? How do you know!?' Annabeth yelled after him.

'Mental connection with Percy, remember? He's right now shouting at me through it so I'm following the connection!' Grover yelled back from a distance. Thalia chuckled.

'Good enough for me.' Thalia said drawing her spear and following in pursuit of Grover. Close behind her Annabeth and Kayla had joined in the race to find Percy and the two half-bloods. As they continued to run through the thick cold snow, Grover continued to sniff the air and yelped again.

'Oh no…' Grover said as all the courage drained out of voice. Thalia growled.

'Well? Spit it out goat boy!' Thalia ordered. Grover shuddered and turned to the three teenage demigods.

'M-m-Manticore!' Grover stuttered. Thalia sighed angrily.

'Great, a semi-powerful monster, just what we need.' Thalia said as she ran past Grover. Kayla ran out next to Thalia leaving with Annabeth to run with Grover. Thalia noticed the pained look on her face and smiled.

'Don't worry Kayla, Kelp head will be fine. He isn't known for going down so easily.' Kayla looked at Thalia and frowned.

'It's not that…' Kayla started; Thalia raised an eyebrow at this. Kayla looked forward with a cold stone look on her face.

'It's this…' Kayla said. As they continued to run, Thalia looked at what Kayla was about to do. With a painful grunt, she brought her hands up across her body and ripped them back down. The two black and white blades shot out of her bracelets as she grasped them around the handles as she angled them the way she liked to fight. The white one seemed to give off a slight bright glow while the black one seemed to blend in with the darkness. Kayla clenched her eyes tight as her fingers tingled with energy. Everyone around her stopped running and looked at the two blades she held in her hands. They had never actually seen her wield both blades before now; Thalia and Annabeth only ever saw the white one when she lost her mind at camp when she was claimed by Poseidon and someone else, and boy did that black one look deadly. Grover almost pissed himself when he caught sight of the two weapons, especially the black one.

'I hate using these things, reminds me of my stupid curse.' Kayla said. Thalia looked down with guilt; she couldn't image how it must feel to bear a curse of fate. She didn't even know what the curse did to you, must have been the black eyes and losing your mind thing when she got to angry. In silence they continued to run.

After about two minutes of consistent running, they heard raised voices up ahead. One was definitely Dr Thorn and the other Kayla instantly knew was her brother. As the group came out into the clearing, Percy looked back at them and rolled his eyes.

'Took your dam time, I could use a little help here!' Percy grunted as he deflected a spike just in the nick of time. He was badly cut and he was bleeding in multiple places. He had been hit with one or two spikes which were currently embedded in each of his shoulders.

'Idiot, you should have waited for us being charging out all alone!' Thalia yelled back at him as she clicked her wrist and Aegis sprang to life. Dr Thorn, who had now shown his true colors, was a full grown Manticore and he looked very hungry.

Kayla got down into a defensive stance and angled her blades to signal that she was in defensive mode. Thalia did the same as she angled her shield in front of her which seemed to get a few wails out of Dr Thorn. The Medusa head seemed to scare the Manticore, but obviously not enough to retreat as the Manticore fired a volley of spikes at the demigods. Six spikes embedded themselves in Aegis which pushed Thalia back a little, and Kayla, doing what seemed the impossible, deflected seven, whilst cutting three spikes in half as they flew through the air.

'Dam… your reflexes are amazing.' Thalia said with her mouth open. Kayla blushed a bit but screamed a warning as the Manticore charged Thalia and knocked her aside. Grover started playing songs on his pipe which caused some vines to entangle the Manticore's paws, which the monster easily snapped but did prove annoying to the Manticore as he snapped its head looking for the pesky satyr.

This gave Kayla and Percy the opening they needed as Percy slid across in front of the Manticore slicing its two paws, cutting deep into its flesh causing it to howl, which Kayla took advantage of and hopped on its back and managed to stab down through it's back with the white blade, but before she could get the seconds blade in, the Manticore rolled over and squashed her. The Manticore rolled off causing Kayla to get stuck in the snow, enough time for the Thorn to bring down the killing blow. Before he could do it, he was struck by a flash of lighting. The Manticore looked around hazily for the attacker and found Thalia on her feet, pointing her spear at the Manticore.

'Look at her again, and I'll make that bolt twice as painful!' Thalia yelled at Dr Thorn.

'Child of Zeus… I'll make sure I tear you apart and send your remains to your father!' The Manticore threatened. Thalia smirked.

'You're more than welcome to try you ugly cat!' Thalia retorted. This enraged the Manticore further as this time, it used a combo of spikes and slashes, all which Thalia just managed to block with Aegis. Thalia also countered with a few jabs with her electrified spear which connected with the Manticore once sending a powerful shock through the body.

Percy was trying to get close but found it difficult with the large poisonous scorpion tail swinging around like a child with a toy lightsaber. Grover was still trying to use spells that were proving ineffective to the Manticore, and Kayla was incredibly dazed as she was trying to stand up in the snow she was squashed in. Annabeth however, who was not present during the first part of the fight, had put her invisible cap on and was looking for an opening where she could take advantage of.

The Manticore realized he wasn't going anywhere with this pointless assault, and nothing was going to get through that shield. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kayla stumbling around in the snow looking more lost and asleep than she did awake and alert. The Manticore halted the attack on Thalia and lunged towards the dazed Kayla, who couldn't make out the figure coming at her with great speed. Luckily she was tackled out of the way by her loving brother who immediately got up and stood before her, ready to protect her with his life.

'You will not touch my sister you ugly creep!' the Manticore chuckled a little bit halting the fight.

'So it is true. Perseus Jackson does indeed have a sister. This will be most interesting to the general and lord Kronos.' The Manticore spoke as he walked closer to Percy. Percy's gaze darkened, a gaze that you wouldn't normally see from Percy.

'I swear if you even touch my sister again. I will kill you, and then come to Tartarus and kill you over and over again!' Percy threatened the Manticore. Grover shuddered and so did Thalia and Annabeth.

'I've never heard Percy say something so… dark before…' Grover said, his voice trailing off. Annabeth took off her cap and appeared next to Thalia whose eyes were wide as if she didn't believe what she had just heard Percy say. Annabeth gulped.

'I've never seen him so angry before…' Annabeth whispered to Thalia. The Manticore grinned and chuckled, which turned into a full out laughter. Kayla had managed to stand up behind Percy just in time to see him attack in a full outrage. Percy swung his sword with deadly precision which the Manticore found extremely difficult dodging, however, Percy got careless when the Manticore saw an opening and swung his tail which hit Percy hard in his side causing him to lose his breath and fly a few meters.

Before Kayla could attack in vengeance, a loud hunting horn pierced the air. There was silence as the Manticore froze in complete fear.

'It cannot be-' He was cut off by a sharp silver blur that cut right through the air which implanted itself in the Manticore's flesh. The Manticore howled in pain as he ripped out the object and threw it to the ground.

It was a long sharp silver arrow.

'The hunters of Artemis!' Annabeth cheered in victory. Thalia growled to herself as she ran over to where Percy was lying on the ground, rolling around in pain.

'Oh, lovely…' Thalia muttered. Kayla was confused what all the fuss Thalia was making. These hunters had just saved their butts, although it was embarrassing that four half-bloods could not take out a single monster.

Girls from around the age of eleven to fourteen walked out of the woods behind the group of demigods. They all wore ski parkas and jeans and were all armed with bows, arrows and hunting knifes. Kayla adjusted her two cursed swords in her hands and held them tight. One twelve year old girl in the bunch seemed to eye her out specifically.

Out of the bunch of girls, an older girl appeared with copper color skin and also quite tall and carried herself gracefully. Unlike the other girls, on her head, she wore a silver circlet that was braided into the top of her long dark hair. To anyone, she would have looked like some Persian princess.

'Permission to kill, my lady?' She asked. Her tone was cold and no one could tell who she was talking to because her eyes remained glued to the Manticore. The monster growled and bared its teeth.

'This is not fair, this is direct interference. It's against Ancient Laws!' Thorn wailed.

'Not so.' The twelve year old girl who had her eyes on Kayla was now making her way out from the group of girls.

'Hunting of all wild beasts is within my sphere, and you foul creature, are a beast.' The girl turned and walked back into the group of girls who all notched an arrow in their bows as if waiting for an order.

'Zoe, permission granted.' The girl said. The Manticore growled in frustration and fear.

'If I cannot have these alive, I shall have them all dead!' He screamed and lunged at Thalia. Annabeth seemed to register what was about to happen and pulled her knife and went for the attack.

'No Annabeth, don't, get back!' Kayla screamed as Annabeth jumped onto the Manticore's back and drove her knife into its mane. The monster howled and jumped around in circles trying to fling her off as Annabeth held on for dear life.

'Fire!' Zoe ordered. Both Kayla and Percy's blood ran extremely cold as they both screamed out to the hunters to stop. With Percy currently incapacitated, Kayla ran after the Manticore who had just become a pin cushion. Kayla's heart was racing, only now was she starting to feel how close she had become to Annabeth over the past few days and she did not want to lose her now.

However before Kayla could reach the Manticore, it said something Kayla didn't register and threw itself off the cliff. Her heart felt like it completely stopped as Kayla stopped at the edge of the cliff and looked down. She could hear Percy's screams as he tried to get up and run to help Annabeth. As Kayla looked down, into the abyss, she could not see Annabeth or the Manticore, and could not feel their presence in the ocean which meant only two things, they either were not there at all, or Annabeth and the Manticore were dead and floating to the bottom of the sea floor. Kayla being as emotional as she is, assumed the latter.

Immediately, Thalia felt a change in the wind and felt the same thing she felt when she was at camp when Kayla completely lost her mind. She saw the twelve year old hunter who issued permission to turn the Manticore into a pun cushion making her way towards Kayla. Thalia immediately knew that it was Artemis, and if she wasn't warned, Kayla would turn her into sushi.

'Oh no…' Thalia whispered to herself.

'Artemis, get away from her!' Thalia screamed a warning. The twelve year old heard the warning and stopped in her tracks and jumped back just in time for a black sword to pass through where she was standing. Thalia left Percy's side and ran to Artemis who just recovered from the attack and started to draw her knifes.

Kayla opened her eyes to reveal black voids of darkness. Her eyes were ablaze of black fire which seemed to root Artemis to the spot.

'W-what is going on!? I cannot move!' Artemis spoke up with a panicked tone. Zoe who was alerted quickly notched an arrow and fired it straight at Kayla, who sliced the arrow in half as it came close to her face. Zoe was thrown into a world of confusion as no one had done that before. Every hunter was rooted to the spot as Thalia threw herself in front of Artemis.

'Kayla control yourself! This is not you! Fight it, you're not this weak!' Thalia pleaded. As if things couldn't get any worse, Kayla's black hair erupted into a green inferno of Greek fire. Percy who had just managed to push himself up witnessed his sister turn hair into a green inferno as pretty shocked as this didn't happen at camp.

The sound of a helicopter appeared above and distracted the thing that was controlling Kayla. It looked at the helicopter with amusement and just as Artemis was about to turn it into a cloud of dust, Kayla swiped her black sword in a downward arc. The helicopter shuddered and completely split in two halves and exploded, killing whatever mortal was inside controlling the helicopter.

Thalia was completely shocked to the core. She had just witnessed Kayla, or whatever was controlling her, slice the helicopter in two, with one motion of her sword! Thalia swallowed a part of her she didn't want to know. She realized she might become a slice of pizza if she didn't calm Kayla down. Obviously the loss of Annabeth had really pissed her off.

'Kayla… please, let's just calm down here-'

'Shut up.' Kayla told Thalia. Thalia stopped, that was not Kayla's voice, in fact it was so raspy it sounded like a guy who lost his voice to cigarettes speak into a spinning fan. Artemis had regained her courage and notched an arrow on the being controlling Kayla.

'What have you done with Kayla you monster?' Artemis ordered. The being scoffed and chuckled which angered Artemis.

'She was being weak, and morning over the loss of someone pathetic, so I decided to take over for a little while.' It replied. Artemis's eyes widened.

'What are you? I have never come across beings that could possess living souls except for spirits that served Gaia, however you do not bear the characteristics of them. They do not alter any physical appearances which you are clearly doing to young Kayla's body. You should exit her body immediately, before something really bad happens to you.' Artemis warned, the being laughed at her.

'What a tempting offer… I would take any chance I could to get out of this pathetic little girl's body. However, I am bound to her soul. I am her curse and it is her problem if she wants to get rid of me.' Artemis was shocked to find that this thing that was controlling Kayla was a curse. She was cut out of her train of thought as Thalia addressed her.

'Excuse me, if I may, my lady. We can explain this to you after we get Kayla back to normal. She told us what happened to her, but its long story to tell. We can't hurt it because it will just hurt her when she returns to control.' Thalia explained as Artemis nodded and stepped forward with a determined look on her face. Zoe who had joined her mistress's side held a worried expression for both Kayla and her mistress.

'My lady?' Zoe asked to which she received a calm answer.

'Zoe, gather the hunters and set up camp over the ridge. I will attempt to return Kayla to control by wearing this beast down.' Artemis ordered. Zoe complied and gave Artemis one last worried looked before leaving her side to order the rest of the hunters to set up camp. Thalia followed Zoe, despite the fact they resented each other, Thalia did not want to stay around to see this fight. Grover followed suit and also picking up the two half-bloods who were completely confused and scared for their lives. Now it was just Artemis and the being that controlled Kayla left standing in a face off as the being adjusted the swords to show that combat was about to take place.

'You do realize you up against a goddess of Olympus?' Artemis warned carefully. The black eyes blazed with a darker fire as a smirk lit up on Kayla's face.

'This will be easy!' It said as it used Kayla's speed and reflexes to gain an advantage, however Artemis's speed was not to be toyed with. Artemis stayed on the defensive, trying not to inflict any damage to the young girls' body that was being use like a puppet. Her small twelve year old form was very easy to slip and dodge swipes from Kayla's swords.

Artemis jumped back, it wasn't like she wasn't trying to attack, it was actually because she couldn't find any openings in the way this thing attacked. Artemis noticed her hunting knifes were starting to get large dents in them from where she blocked the attacks and that was scary because her equipment was of godly standard which meant so were those blades Kayla's puppeteer was using.

Just as the battle started to heat up, a weak voice ripped through the air freezing Kayla completely. Percy was standing there to the side looking very fatigued and beaten.

'Kayla… please, stop this. Fight it, it's just a coward. You are you and will always be you. I care that we lost Annabeth today, but I don't want to lose you to. I don't believe she is dead, we would know as the ocean is below us, we would have sensed her connect with it, but we didn't. She's still alive Kayla, I know it… and we will save her.' Percy said with a weak smile.

'N-no!' the raspy voice that controlled Kayla faded back to her own voice. The green inferno that encased her head had burnt out and the black fire in her eyes vanished, leaving her sparkly green eyes. The two swords reverted themselves back into bracelets as Kayla fell to her knees in the snow. Artemis jumped to her side and stopped her from falling face first in the snow. She had passed out, no doubt from the fatigue on her body, from being used like a puppet.

Percy walked over to his sister and keeled down next to Artemis with a sad look on his face.

'I wish she didn't have to burden this curse… I wish it was me instead of her.' Percy muttered. Artemis looked at Percy with a sympathetic smile.

'You are protective of your sister Percy. It is good she has someone like you.' Artemis said. Percy shook his head in response.

'I need to get stronger so she doesn't have to fight, that way, the curse cannot take effect.' Percy summarized but Artemis denied it.

'No, you do not need to get stronger. She does, mentally. Once she can mentally keep this monster at bay, then she can fight without worry and hesitation. I do not know where she got these weapons from, but they have power from beyond the gods themselves. Not even my father's Master bolt has enough power to rival these swords which is most worrying.' Artemis explained, to which Percy looked confused.

'You were defending well against her, she didn't manage to hurt you.' Percy said to which Artemis growled as she spoke what it was really doing.

'That being that was controlling Kayla, was just toying with me. It was laughing each time I blocked or parried one of its strikes. I also noticed while watching Kayla fighting the Manticore that whenever she used the blades, it increased her fighting ability to a degree that a god would fight at. However, she cannot control that much power, and probably never will as she is not immortal and that means her body cannot withstand so much power at once.' Percy came to a realization which made him go pale.

'The blades power is tearing her apart!?" Percy almost screamed. He turned to his unconscious sister who looked very peaceful as she slept. Artemis grimly nodded and closed her eyes.

'Unless she can beat that curse that plagues her soul, it will continue to take over, until it completely destroys and consumes her soul. That's what I think will happen, the way it fought, felt like it was getting ready for a permanent stay in her body.' Artemis said changing her form to an eighteen year old and picking up Kayla's limp body and carried her to the camp her adoptive daughters had set up with Percy walking alongside her. Percy was very tense, his sister was in danger of being ripped apart by this power that even Artemis had never encountered and this was more than worrying for him. He had a feeling that she would very soon, have to battle for control of her own body. That thought made Percy sick to his stomach, he felt sad and angry that he was helpless to help his sister in the situation she was stuck in.

As the goddess arrived in the camp, Kayla was taken from her arms and taken straight to the recovery tent or also known as the medical tent. Artemis went straight for her tent which was obviously the bigger one in the middle of the campsite while Percy went and sat by the fire in deep thought. He couldn't figure out how to help his sister, he felt so utterly useless. He had only known her for less than a week, and she was already in the middle of a danger that he couldn't even help her with.

After a few minutes of thinking over the events that just happened, he was called to Artemis's tent where he found he was pretty much interrogated long with being continually stared at by Zoe as if she wanted make him her own personal pin cushion. The thought of that gave Percy Goosebumps as well as an uncomfortable feeling as he felt like all the girls in this little "club" hated who he was or maybe what he was.

He talked to Artemis about what the Manticore had said to him, Bianca and Nico. All in all it was basically a conspiracy to what Thorn had hinted at, something about the stirring of monsters that would spawn monsters that haven't been seen or heard of in thousands of years. This is exactly what Artemis looked like she did not want to hear. Also at the same time, Artemis also had with ancient unknown power concealed in a pair of dual wielding swords that the shadow that took over Percy's sister claimed to be the "Curse of fate" on her hands as well. It was obvious to Artemis now, if Kayla didn't subdue that curse soon, the stirring of monsters would be the least of the gods problems.

At this time Kayla walked into the tent rubbing her head as she had just woke up, she also looked a little sick as she went and sat down next to her brother. She had been filled in on how she had attacked Artemis on even terms, so being in the goddesses presence made her feel very self-conscious and uncomfortable.

'Are you better my dear?' Artemis asked with concern. Kayla looked up in shock in her eyes but swallowed and nodded. Artemis smiled and turned back to Percy who was still a little angry that Bianca had abandoned her brother and joined the hunt despite his protests. The presence of his beloved sister calmed him down to a respectable level before Artemis gave her next set of instructions.

'All of you are dismissed, Kayla, a word my dear.' Artemis commanded. Everyone exited the tent as Percy gave worried look at his sister before leaving. There was an uncomfortable silence as Kayla continued to sat put as Artemis tried to find the right words.

'Your father told me where you were for the past two years. You must know that you are exceptionally lucky to even be alive right now. Normally I and my hunt are able to find missing demigods in less than a few days maybe even a week at the most, but two years was a serious concern. I would never have guessed a demigod would be foolish enough to flee to Alaska after a fight with their caretakers. Before you say how stupid and idiotic your foolish father was for keeping such an important secret from you, it was amazingly stupid to run away to Alaska.' Artemis scolded Kayla.

'But that is not important, what is important is that your back and your safe. However, I need to know the truth. What really happened over in Alaska Kayla, and don't even try to lie to me.' Artemis spoke in a very serious tone cupping Kayla's hands in hers. Kayla sighed and recalled what happened as to her finding of the swords. Artemis closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead in a frustrated manner.

'I knew that cursive legend was true, however Zeus said he had sent Hercules to search out the legend but he returned empty handed and said he had searched every corner of the world… obviously Alaska wasn't counted as part of the world.

'Kayla my dear, these next few words are important because they will determine the fate of your family and friends. You must at all costs fight this curse that has been place upon you, if you don't every time it takes over, it will hurt and kill innocent people and your friends and family. Sooner or later, you're either going to have to conquer this Curse or destroy the being that resides in your soul. I would ask Hades but he is quite touchy when it comes to curses…' Artemis's voice trailed off. Kayla listened in complete silence as Artemis spoke to her in a motherly tone. Kayla smiled as Artemis returned to smile.

'I trust you will do the right thing when it comes to pass. I must go west as dawn breaks to hunt this monster your brother spoke of, I will need you and your brother to return to camp with my hunters until I return to pick them up. I would also like to offer you a place in the hunters, I will give you time to return an answer until I get back.' Kayla nodded but didn't say anything. Artemis raised an eyebrow and smiled.

'Is that supposed to be a "Yes I will join the hunt"?' Artemis said with a little chuckle. Kayla went wide eyed and laughed back.

'N-no I meant I was nodding as in "Yes I will think about it".' She replied. Artemis smiled,

'I know, I was just teasing you. Now run along, morning is going to break soon and my idiotic brother will be here soon to pick you and everyone up.' Artemis said and lightly pushed Kayla out of her tent. As Kayla made her way back to where Percy was, she couldn't help but feel determined to fight this stupid being inside of her mind. Also that offer Artemis gave her was tempting but what would her brother say… and also if this curse was permanent even after if she were to beat it, she wouldn't want to spend eternity with that curse. Kayla decided she would take her time on the subject of joining the hunt.

Kayla found that Percy, Thalia and Grover were sitting next to the campfire with Nico. Percy caught sight of his sister and ran over to her determined to find out what Artemis had chatted to his sister about.

'Tell me everything, did she offer for you to join the hunt?' Percy asked at the speeds that would rival a girl on a high dose of caffeine. Kayla shifted and had a look of guilt on her face.

'Oh my gods… I can't believe you!' Percy choked as he turned around and stormed off the in other direction.

'Wait, you got it wrong! I didn't accept, she just offered it to me!' Kayla called out. Percy stopped letting Kayla finish but kept his back turned.

'I just said I would think about it…' She finished. Percy scoffed and continued off to where he was going. She felt like her heart had just been crushed. Her own brother just turned his back on her and walked away! Didn't he understand how hard it was for her? The pressure of killing anyone at any time made her a nervous wreck and completely afraid of what this shadow inside of her was capable of.

'I don't get it, I didn't join and he's still angry.' Kayla said breathlessly. Grover stood up and trotted over to Kayla and patted her on the back.

'Don't worry about it, he's not really angry… he's just worried because of the fact that he lost Bianca to the hunt and he thought he just lost you to. What you just said made him less angry but more worried and nervous that you might accept.' Grover said. Kayla frowned that turned into a growl.

'Since when did he become my father? I can do what I want, I don't need his consultation! I can make decisions for myself!' Kayla yelled out to make sure her brother heard her words. If he did, he gave no sign of it. Kayla stormed off heading nowhere in particular as Thalia went up to pat Grover on the back who had just stumped back in complete shock to Kayla's outburst.

'Don't worry goat boy. That's just common sibling squabble, Percy's being overprotective and Kayla wants Percy to see that she is grown up and doesn't need his help. Hades, I was convinced when she said she survived two years in Alaska.' Thalia sighed. Thalia turned back to Nico who was now looking around to understand why everyone was yelling.

'Why were those two yelling?' Nico asked innocently. Thalia went over to Nico and laughed while sitting down next to him.

'Well, they are brother and sister. They actually just met each other for the first time in their lives about a week ago. I was waiting for a fight like this to break out sooner or later, it was bound to happen, and what better time to happen as soon as Annabeth falls off a cliff.' Thalia said sadly. Nico looked at Thalia stupidly.

'If Annabeth is a daughter of Athena, the goddess of wisdom… doesn't she know better than to go falling off cliffs?' Nico asked. Thalia looked at Nico out of the corner of her eye with a killer glare. Electricity was bouncing off her finger tips as she tried to control her anger. This kid had guts who ask a question like that after seeing her in combat with Aegis and her electro-spear. Thalia quickly dismissed her anger as she realized this kid was some naïve demigod who didn't know any better.

Thalia sighed standing up and walking over to Grover.

'Hey, goat boy, go find Kelp Head while I go cheer up Kayla. We can't have those two killing each other when we head back to camp.' Thalia ordered. Grover sighed and scooted off to find wherever Percy had stormed off to. Thalia turned and walked around camp for a few minutes trying to find where Kayla had walked off two. When she eventually found her, she was talking to the person Thalia hated the most out of all of the hunters.

'Zoe…' Thalia growled. Thalia went and stood with her back to a tent as she listened in on the conversation from ear shot.

'So what's it like in the hunt?' Kayla asked Zoe. Zoe seemed to smile; she had always liked talking about their adventures to new recruits of the hunt, even if they weren't recruits, just girls who wanted to know in general.

'Well, traveling around with Artemis for two millennia isn't easy but it's certainly what you call "fun". We hunt animals, monsters, teach some males a thing or two in respect. We also tend to get ourselves sucked into mortal affairs but all in all it's all great to be around such great girls.' Zoe explained. Kayla laughed a little.

'That sounds busy, but fun at the same time. I always liked archery, if just never been good at it. When I said never been good, I don't just mean average, I mean like terrible. I would fire straight and it would somehow go behind me. I once almost took out an eye of one of my father's lieutenants when they were training me in my dad's palace.' Zoe seemed to take a lot of interest in Kayla's life.

'Hmm, I've wondered about what it would be like to visit Poseidon's palace sometime. I mean he is a male, just he's very neutral and caring for his children. That puts him in my respectable books. I mean I still hate males, but he's okay. I just wondered what it's like to be to actually live in his underwater palace…' Zoe said starting to stare off into space. Kayla giggled a bit.

'Well I could always show you. I mean, I know how to get there, I've like lived there for the past, what, twelve years of my life?' Kayla said while Zoe stared at her in disbelief.

'So it is true! Milady said that one of Poseidon's children had run off to Alaska about two years ago after she came back from a council meeting on Olympus. It was you who spent two years in that gods-forsaken place. That's a huge accomplishment although very stupid… no offence.' Kayla smiled.

'None taken, I do admit, I was very stupid and naïve. If I didn't run off to Alaska in such an angry state, I wouldn't have this stupid curse to bear and I would be just a normal half-blood with normal half-blood problems. If I didn't have this stupid curse I would have joined the hunt in a heartbeat, but if I beat this curse and it still remains, I really don't want to live an eternity with it. I would rather have children and die then be stuck with this curse forever until I'm actually killed in battle.' Kayla said sadly. Zoe seemed to have been sapped from her happy mood because she turned and frowned.

'I understand. I heard from milady that this curse is anything but a normal curse. Probably the worst curse ever to be set on a demigod or a mortal, but I have faith you will overcome this curse and subdue it.' Kayla looked at Zoe with wary eyes as if not believing what she was saying was true. Zoe put a hand on her shoulder.

'No demigod I have ever seen has survived two years on their own in Alaska. That much says a lot about you as a person. You continue to get stronger and interdependent, and I can grantee you that you will defeat that shadow plaguing your soul.' Zoe said with a smile. Kayla returned it with a hug.

'Thank you Zoe, you have no idea how much better that makes me feel.' She said. Thalia heard the whole thing and couldn't help but feel happy for Zoe and Kayla.

'_Part of me feels angry because I feel that Zoe is trying to bait Kayla into joining the hunters… but another part of me feels happy because Zoe is encouraging Kayla to beat that curse with everything she has. Whatever Kayla does, I can't let her join the hunters. It will tear Percy apart.'_ Thalia thought as she walked off back to the camp fire to wait for dawn to break.

-Line Break-

As dawn broke, the large group gathered at a summit to wait for Artemis's twin brother Apollo to give them a ride back to camp. Kayla and Percy met up and Percy explained he was just angry and emotional about losing Bianca and how Nico would feel. Kayla told Percy that she was also wrong for not saying "no" to the offer and promised him that she would talk to him and see if he was okay with anything before she made any serious life changing decisions if there was time. Percy promised he would do the same.

As Apollo arrived to pick everyone up, sibling bickering occurred as well as a few hunters moaning about something that happened last time they were at camp. Thalia muttered something about Apollo that Kayla scolded herself as her woman intuition told her it was something embarrassing, that she missed out on hearing so she couldn't have Thalia on about it.

Artemis started off west and the hunters all piled into the back of the sun chariot disguised as a school bus. As everyone got in, Apollo stopped Thalia and insisted that she drive the sun chariot disguised as the bus. Kayla instantly knew the look on Thalia's face was anything but honor and happiness, it was a look of absolute terror. Kayla sat down next to Percy and gulped nervously. Percy asked what was wrong and Kayla kindly gestured towards the frozen Thalia sitting at the wheel, holding the steering wheel so hard it was making her knuckles go white.

'You might want to hold on to something.' Kayla said nervously. Percy did exactly as suggested and prepared for a ride of a life time.

After arriving at camp Half-blood, the stomach turning, vomit inducing ride was over. Kayla could have sworn they torched at least half of New England. Everyone stumbled out of the bus and onto the camp shoreline where Kayla had first arrived at. Apollo quickly said his good-byes and turned his bus back into a cool modern car and zoomed off back into the sky. Kayla, without any more thoughts, went straight to her cabin and didn't answer anyone's calls to her as she was simply too tired and to wore out to even care.

As soon as her head hit the pillow, she passed out like a brink hitting the floor. She hadn't slept well last night as she was on edge and she was so tired after the shadow took over that as soon as she got into a bunk bed she simply passed out.

A few hours later, Percy came in and saw his sister stretched out on the bed above his. He smiled and pulled some blankets over her and brushed the hair out of her face just as she turned over to her other side and muttered something about seafood which made Percy turned green.

'_What in Zeus's name is she dreaming of!?'_ Percy thought to himself before he got into his own bed and fell into the world of dreams. Just after that, Kayla stirred awake, and sat up looking around the cabin, she peered over the side of her bunk and found her brother nicely tucked into his own bed. She also found she was under some blankets as well. She smiled and thanked her brother silently before lying back down and falling asleep. However this time, the dream was all but pleasant.

She awoke to find herself in the same burning camp that she recognized before when she entered this place when she passed out when being claimed. She steeled her nervous and climbed out of the burnt bedside and walked out of the burning cabin.

Once again, the entire camp was on fire; however there was no screaming this time as she saw who was standing at the entrance to the big house. The shadow looked at her and smiled as she returned a glare.

'What do you want you creep.' Kayla said glaring at the monster of her dreams. The shadow doppelganger of herself stared back and frowned. The fires around the camp grew brighter and fiercer than before.

'**What do I want? I thought I already told you that. I want to kill you.'** The shadow said in its trademarked raspy voice. Out of its right hand sprung the black blade that Kayla used. Almost instinctively, Kayla raised her left hand out popped the white blade as she held it tightly. She was scared, very scared but refused to show it. Her heart was pounding as the shadow started to take steps towards her. She found herself doing the same with a hard glare to back it up.

'I will not let you hurt my family and my friends.' Kayla stated. They continued to walk towards each other, until they were almost nose to nose. The shadow smiled.

'**You may not know it, but I can taste your fear. You are scared of the fact of how much power I have when I take over. You know because when I took over on that night, when I fought Artemis. You watched and you were terrified.'** Kayla growled.

'Your dam right I'm terrified. I'm terrified of that power; I'm terrified of the fact that if I beat you, I will probably gain that power. I don't want that, I only want to be strong enough to protect my family and my friends.' Kayla said. The two beings started to circle each other, waiting for the other to attack. Kayla was the first to strike.

The blades clashed drawing sparks to fly in different directions. Kayla went for another strike only to hit air when she heard a maniacal laughter behind her. She spun and countered the attack and cut deeply into the flesh of the shadow drawing no blood, but a black smoke that healed itself. Kayla gasped and jumped back.

'**Your fear gives me power. I thought you would have figured that out by now.'** The shadow said appearing behind her slashing her back drawing blood. Kayla jumped back again in the opposite direction only to be cut again from a different angle. Her left shoulder and her lower back were now bleeding continuously.

'**Your guard is weak. Your strategy is flawed and you still fail to understand what I truly am. I'm not just a curse Kayla. The curse is what gives me my form and my energy!'** The shadow laughed as it attacked again. Kayla managed to parry a few before the shadow pushed her off balance and sliced both of the back parts of her legs. She screamed in agony and dropped to the ground. The shadow circled her laughing at her.

'**You are so weak! This is pathetic… the wielder of the fates symbol of power and she can't even keep a simple control on her mental state. I should just kill you now.' **Kayla growled as she struggled through the pain to stand up even though the shadow was standing right in front of her. It wasn't attack because it was enjoying watching her squabble in pain. It walked backwards until they were at least several meters apart.

'What… the Hades… do you want… from me.' Kayla said in between breaths. At this time her back was bleeding and she consistently held her left shoulder with her right hand to stop the blood flowing out. The backs of her legs were also bleeding profusely and she was hazily losing her vision. There was also a trail of blood seeping out from the corner of her mouth as she continued to glare that the shadow that was perfectly fine.

The shadow grinned. '**Kayla. I am going to ask you a question, and I want you to answer it looking from a different perspective.'** It said. Kayla looked at the shadow in confusion as it began to ask its question.

**'Tell me Kayla. What's the difference… between a king, and its horse?'**

-Line Break-

Percy awoke to Kayla moaning and crying in her sleep. He immediately stood up out of his bed and saw through the dark what was happening. Her eyes were shut but he could clearly see a black smoke that was seeping through the closed eye lids. He immediately opened his cabin door and rushed to the big house. He didn't care who woke up as he immediately slapped his cabin door and sprinted to the big house.

He passed a number of cabins in the process as he sprinted to the big house and opened the door.

'Chiron! Chiron!' Percy yelled out trying to find him. Chiron wheeled into room Percy had rushed into with a look of panic and fear on his face.

'Percy! What is it my boy?' Chiron asked. Percy was panting hard as he tried to form the words but his mind was racing to fast as he managed to get out,

'Kayla…eyes…black smoke…asleep…crying…!' Percy said. This was all Chiron needed to hear as he sprung from his wheel chair and picked Percy up and galloped towards the Poseidon cabin waking up the entire camp in the process.

Thalia had exited her cabin to find Percy and Chiron making their way towards Percy's cabin and that could only mean that Kayla was in trouble. Thalia quickly threw some clothes on and followed them to the Poseidon cabin. As Chiron opened the door, they found Kayla screaming in pain rolling around on the floor holding her head in her hands. Chiron picked her up and carried her with Percy back to the big house.

Zoe had also woken up along with all the hunters to see what all the commotion was all about. Zoe opened the door to see Chiron carrying Kayla and a worried looking Percy and Thalia trailing behind him. Without thinking Zoe ran out to see what was happening to Kayla.

Zoe, Phoebe, Percy, Thalia and Grover along with Chiron found themselves inside the big house alongside Kayla at an emergency medical bay that was only used for special cases. The screaming had stopped but she was still moaning, tossing and turning in the medical bed. The black smoke increased and was leaking more and more through her closed eye lids. The unlucky Grover was stuck with her as he was to stay by her side and try to enchant her rest to a more peaceful sleep with some spells. Meanwhile the others sat outside in the lounge while the other campers who had been woken in the process had been ordered to return to their cabins by order of Chiron.

They all sat around a lit fire in silence until Zoe broke it.

'This is a good sign…' Zoe started before being cut off by Thalia.

'Good sign? Good sign!? Are you crazy? She was screaming in pain and you think that is a good sign!?' Thalia almost screamed until she was ordered to quiet down by Chiron with a glare. Zoe scoffed.

'If you let me finish I would tell you why. As you have noticed, last time her eyes started smoking, which that shadow took over. This time however, it hasn't… yet. I think the screaming and the moaning is an indication that Kayla is fighting the curse for control of her body. The fact that it hasn't taken over yet is that she is either winning or it is a complete stalemate, or maybe it's toying with her. However, she is resisting either way, she hasn't turned yet so it is good.' Zoe explained. Thalia sat back down with a worried expression on her face. Percy remained silent, his gaze glued towards the door leading into the medical bay. This was getting to become frequent and more violent, lucky she was fighting back otherwise they would all be in a load of trouble.

'I will not allow her to take place in capture the flag tomorrow night.' Chiron stated which earned an approving nod from Zoe and Phoebe. Percy and Thalia remained silent as they knew it was the best for Kayla. If something where to happen and she got into an emotion fight, that would have horrible consequences.

Kayla really needed to get control of that shadow; otherwise she would kill Percy through stress and worry. It was nerve shaking as it is to have his sister bearing a curse that no one even knows about.

Thalia huffed and stormed back to her camp as the rest just ignored the daughter of Zeus's temper. Zoe knew she hated her, and she didn't like it. She wanted her and Thalia to become closer, however her connection to boys is to close for Zoe's liking, so she remained stoic whenever Thalia was around. Her relationship with Kayla was very good; she didn't mind that Percy was her brother as family always had to look out for each other, regardless of gender. Zoe could see Kayla becoming a hunter in the future; she already had the experience of being able to cope on her own, so it could work.

As Zoe left with Phoebe to head back to the cabin of Artemis, she couldn't help but think about her nightmare she had about Artemis being stuck under the sky. Something had happened, and it was really bad. That didn't shake Zoe up the most though, the fact that her mistress was holding up the sky gave her an idea of who it was who had ordered the Manticore to capture the two half-bloods. It was a chilling thought that Atlas, her birth father had escaped from his punishment and forced it upon her mistress. Through she could never be sure. Dreams like those can often be false, or memories that have already passed.

As Zoe and Phoebe had returned, Percy had returned to his sister's side next to Grover while Chiron also stayed within ear shot to make sure that Kayla was okay and that he could help her if need be. The moaning continued and the movement of her body was as if she was trying to shake something off of her, but no matter what, Percy could not feel anymore helpless. All he could do was wait and stay by his sister's side.

-Line Break-

'W-what do you mean, a king and a horse…? I don't understand.' Kayla gasped, trying to steady her breaths. The shadow was toying with her. If it wanted to kill her it could have done it already. She hated the fact it was just playing with her and asking her stupid questions.

**'Of course you don't, it's a matter of knowing why and understanding the difference between the two. Why is it that the king rides into the battle being carried by its horse, what's the difference that cuts the two off and draws the line and puts the king at the top?!'** The shadow rasped as it circled her. The flames of the burning Camp Half-Blood grew brighter and more violent as the flames start burning louder and higher.

'…' Kayla could only stare with anger at the doppelganger in front of her. What was this thing playing at? The shadow chuckled a little.

**'INSTINCT!'** Kayla stared at the shadow of herself, a little shocked at the outburst.

**'You lack the instinct to kill and slaughter your enemies. In this world, do you think monsters are going to go easy on you? Just because you're a pretty little innocent girl, give me a break! You had more killer instinct in you when you were alone in Alaska! When you picked up the two swords and you were cornered by a group of monsters. What did you do? You cut them all down, because you knew it was the only way to get out alive!**

**My friend ever since you returned to this… peaceful little life with your brother, you locked that instinct away because you don't want to be that person. You're afraid of the power you actually hold within you! I am sick of it; I will not allow your fear and cowardly mind to kill us both. When you were fighting the Manticore, I was sick to my stomach! You could have slaughtered that pathetic beast and… you could have saved your little friend Annabeth.'** The shadow explained with a cruel smile at the end. Kayla looked up with a killer glare in her eyes; she just wanted to rip this smart little shadow to pieces for speaking like that about Annabeth.

'I… am not weak. You want that killer instinct? Fine, but I'm going to use it to kill you.' Kayla growled. She stood up and held the white blade in her left hand hard, her knuckles going white and her sea green eyes glowing a little. As the fire grew brighter around the two, you could feel the tension in the air as the silence was broken by the crackle of the fire in the background.

Without another breath, Kayla charged, her white blade at her side as she brought it down on the shadow's pitch black blade. Sparks danced around the blades as the shadow fought back, as Kayla pushed harder to make the shadow kneel before her.

Before the shadow could counter her, she stepped around it and pushed it slightly off balance. The shadow stumbled before regaining its footing only to have its back slashed hard which cut deep into its flesh. There was no blood, only black smoke that evaporated from its back. The doppelganger ginned.

**'That's more like it…'**

The two continued to fight, neither one of them slowing down as the blows were exchanged and the cuts and slashes were traded. However this could not go on forever, Kayla was starting to get tired and her focus was betraying her as the fight started to tip in the shadow's favor. She could not match the shadow's speed and strength but she fought with the instinct and her intelligence which was the only thing keeping her in the game. The fact that after a while, Kayla had figured out the fighting style and technique of the shadow and was able to counter easily, but her fatigue was draining her faster than she could stay on her feet.

She was almost beat, she was bleeding all over. Her mouth and teeth were stained with blood and most of her dream state clothes were ripped and revealing more than they should. Good thing there were no boys in the dream. That would be embarrassing.

She was breathing heavily, only able to keep one eye open as she looked at her opponent. The shadow on the other hand was injured slightly in more serious places and badly in less serious placing putting the shadow at advantage here. She growled again, feeling like she had lost. Her mind refused to meet that conclusion as she lifted her blade for one final attack.

'I… am going… to end this… right now…' She said. She started into a slow run and then into a sprint as she charged the shadow, intending to end the whole charade once and for all. Sweat was pouring down her forehead as she saw the shadow raise its blade to block the attack. Right at the last second, it switched its positioning and rammed its blade through her abdomen. She froze, as she felt the cold hard material piece her body.

'**How foolish, to think such an attack would break through to me. You truly deserve to die.'**It said as it started to pull out the blade from her stomach. She felt hot tears run from her eyes. She heard the words of her brother, Zoe and Artemis, her friends.

'_I can grantee you that you will defeat that shadow plaguing your soul.'_ Those words that Zoe had said echoed through her mind. It gave her strength and power, she would not lose. Not now, not ever.

Before the shadow could pull its swords out of her stomach, she grabbed the blade bare handed as the blade cut into her hand drawing blood but she didn't care, all she wanted to do is beat this thing.

'I will not… lose to you!' Kayla said, plunging her white sword into the shadow's chest. It froze, gagging and stumbling back. It pulled out the blade and it dropped, clanging as it hit the ground. The shadow looked at her though its black smoky eyes with sorrow and anger which made Kayla wonder what it was thinking. Kayla then closed her eyes and proceeded to rip the blade out of her stomach with caused her to fall to her knees in pain. Blood was dripping from the open cavity the sword had made in her abdomen. She clutched her stomach and looked at the shadow and grinned.

'I win…' She said coughing up a chunk of blood. The shadow looked at her with more anger before dissolving into a black mist.

**'This… is far… from over!'**

Kayla collapsed, chuckling to herself a little that she had actually beaten the shadow inside of her. Maybe it would stop taking over her now when she used her weapons. As she lay on the charred soil and burnt grass she saw the fires die down a bit until it was a nice white fire and burned softly without any violent feel to them. She smiled as it felt more peaceful as she fell out of her dream world.

-Line Break-

Kayla woke to find her brother right at her side along with Grover and Chiron. They were all waiting for her to say something as she sat up in the medical bed and rubbed her eyes, brushing away the sleep dust. She looked up at her brother and smiled innocently.

'I did it, I beat him. He shouldn't bother me anymore. That shadow should be gone now.' Percy let loose a huge sigh of relief while Chiron just smiled at the daughter of the sea.

'That's very good to hear Kayla; I might even let you participate in the capture the flag game tonight. Now as for you Percy, go back and get some sleep, you have been up the whole night.' Chiron said. Percy nodded and gave his sister a hug before making his way back to the Poseidon cabin.

Kayla thought about what the shadow had said. "It was far from over." It had said to her, but she felt confident she could beat it now. She felt better after beating it for the first time. She had asked Chiron to be excused while he hesitated to answer but gave her permission. The first thing she did was find the combat arena.

When she walked in, she found a number of test dummies circled up around the place. She knew it was now or never to test whether she could control her power. With little effort, the blade and white katanas shot into her hands as she positioned them in her style of fighting. She bent her knees slightly to keep her balance and she angled her wrists so that the swords were pointing outwards at both of her sides. She felt very comfortable in this style and she found it easier to move.

She moved in to fight the dummies, correcting her flaws and her stances whenever she got lazy. As she was really getting into it, it felt like she was taken over by the same instinct. She was hacking and slashing, eyes darting from dummy to dummy and just as she was fighting, she instinctively slipped her hands off the guards and grabbed the chains, proceeded to twirl them as if they were helicopter blades. The handle chains were nice and long so it was quite easy to twirl them.

She jumped forwards into the middle of five more dummies and completely desolated the lot of them. Her blades where spinning blades of pure carnage and fatality. When she came to a stop she twirled her blades once more, slowing them down a bit and catching them in their handles again. She started laughing to herself at how cool that was.

'_Wow! That was awesome; it felt like my mind went into autopilot or something…_' She thought to herself. She examined her surroundings and sort of gulped. The place was a mess, scattered dismembered parts of dummies lay everywhere she looked. Before she had a chance to clean up, she yelped in surprise as Zoe Nightshade had come up behind her and tapped her on the shoulder.

'I was watching you mutilate those dummies. I can say I have never seen such mastery of duel wielding before. Anyway, Grover told me you were heading here when he last saw you so I thought I would just pop on by to see how you were going. Obviously you're angry at something.' Zoe said raising an eyebrow. Kayla laughed which startled the old, young looking huntress.

'I'm not angry. I'm actually just training and correcting my technique. I beat that shadow inside of me by the way. It was slim but I did it.' Zoe seemed surprised and hugged Kayla in a glee.

'See? I told you, you could do it.' Zoe said. Kayla still wondered. It still seemed to off the bat to defeat the shadow that easily. It even said it would be back, but she wouldn't burden her friends by telling them that. Since she had beaten it, it didn't try to take over during her training. It's obviously leaving her alone for now. She wanted to keep it that way.

'Yea I guess. It was hard, long and very painful, but I won in the end. It won't be bothering me from now on. It knows who's boss and who's not.' Kayla said with a hearty attitude. Zoe smiled.

'That's good to know. Since you have beaten that shadow inside of you, Chiron is letting you participate in tonight's capture the flag game. I'll let you know the hunters have won fifty five games in a row since we have been at camp.' Zoe said with a fake taunting. Kayla knew she was testing her boundaries and her determination.

'Well, I'm sure by the end of tonight, it will be fifty five to one.' Kayla said with a little chuckle. Zoe straightened up and smiled, as if she accepted the challenge. Zoe then spun on her heel and walked out of the building before turning around and smirking.

'As you modern age mortals would say… _Bring it on!_' And with that Zoe disappeared. Kayla waited a little before almost breaking down laughing.

'_Oh, man. Zoe's modern day English is terrible!'_ She thought her eyes watering a little from laughing. She then turned around to clean up the arena for the next few hours until the game was to start.

-Line Break-

As the next few hours past, Kayla had continued to clean up the arena, set it up, and then proceed to destroy and desolate it again as she trained. Percy on the other hand, was having weird everyday demigod dreams.

He had dreamed of Luke being stuck under Atlas's burden and then as Annabeth came into the picture, Percy wanted to scream out to her "No" but the dream state wouldn't allow it. Then the dream faded, as Artemis came into the picture, and Percy could tell it was a different time as Annabeth had streaks of grey in her heir and she looked deadly pale. Artemis ended up taking the sky from her and Annabeth collapsed.

The dream faded again, this time he was on a ship where Luke and Dr Thorn were standing next to a tall buff army Sargent looking man. They were in front of the coffin that Percy knew held the remains of the titan lord Kronos. Dr Thorn stepped forward as he was motioned by the large man.

'My lord…' He started, 'It seems the rumors were true. You little spy has confirmed as well as my own word, that Percy Jackson does indeed have a sister. I have records of their birth dates and information on each one. Perseus is indeed the older one by about an hour at most. His sister goes by the name of Kayla Jackson. That much we know.' Dr Thorn said as he bowed and stepped back. A rumbling raspy voice that made Percy's blood curl could be heard from the golden coffin.

'Ha… This just makes things easier for us. A sister he has grown close to indeed makes our job of manipulation of the demigods easier indeed.' The voice of Kronos was deep and very freighting. It made Percy want to curl up in a hole, but he had to stay strong.

This time the large man stepped forward.

'It seems your predictions where right. Annabeth was an easy capture, and the perfect bait to trap Artemis under the sky. I believe the little traitor Zoe Nightshade will soon set off on a quest to save her lady.' The man spoke. Kronos grumbled a little.

'Let their little quests play out… What I want is more leverage and information on Jackson's sister. If we can get to her, we will play these demigods like a game of chess, and we will know every single move. Dr Thorn, Luke, I have a special task for the two of you, and you General. The plan proceeds as normal.' The general man nodded and left without a word.

Percy's dream started to fade but he didn't want it to, these guys were planning something that involved his sister, and he'd be dammed if Kronos ever touches her, he will make sure, Tartarus is the least of the titan lord's problems. Percy's dream faded involuntarily as he was woken by Grover.

'Percy, wake up! Capture the flag starts in like twenty minutes dude. Everyone's waiting for you in the mess to discuss the plan.' His friendly satyr said. Percy hazily got out of his bed feeling refreshed and ready, but the dream he had just had made him exceptionally worried, and worried lead to stress and stress, let to fatigue, which was half of what he was feeling along with refreshed.

He knew one thing though. His sister was being targeted, and he would not let her out of his sights as long as he could help it.

-Line Break-

The capture the flag concept was easy, especially for Kayla. Protect the flag for enough time for their offensive groups to capture the hunter's flag. Simple right? Not in the slightest, as a number of the campers were so scared they were on the verge of peeing themselves. Nico not knowing how dangerous this could get was smiling stupidly while the hunters were on the other side of the mess discussing their plan of attack. Bianca gave Nico a couple of guilty stares which Thalia and Percy took notice of and gave her a hard look back.

The groups were soon off, as the campers went and set their flag atop of Zeus's fist and the hunters, somewhere Forrest friendly. This was Kayla's first game and she was determined to win, regardless of the hunter's winning streak, she was confident they could win.

As soon as the flag was placed, everyone was in place and the horn sounded. Kayla and Percy were stuck on the defensive end as Thalia and a group of attacks piled on the offensive and started to push the hunters back. After a few minutes, Percy and Kayla and a couple of others had battled off a few of attacking hunters. Kayla turned to her side and saw Thalia get pinned down while she also saw a wide opening right through the middle. She saw Percy going for it and joined him. As they ran through the Forrest they crossed a creek that went at least waist deep. She smiled and stopped running as Percy took notice and quickly stopped to ask why.

'Kayla, why stop?'

'Just keep going Perce, I got a plan. Go get their flag.' Kayla commanded. Her brother nodded and continued to run. While he was gone, Kayla devised a plan in her head; she had seen Zoe going for a sneak attack a while ago. That was their whole plan, wear the defenders down while the strongest, their lieutenant snatched their flag. Kayla saw that she would have to cross the creek to get to her side.

As she devised her plan as she saw Percy running back in a full sprint with the hunter's flag with arrows flying at him from all different directions. Kayla's head snapped the other way to see Zoe pursued by several other campers in a full sprint with their flag. Kayla smiled evilly and gave a sly nod to her brother as she hid closely behind a tree. He somehow understood exactly what she was getting at, as soon as he reached the creek he stopped and stood, smiling at Zoe.

Just as Zoe went to attack Percy and get their flag. Kayla used her control over water to rise up the water into a wall of water, Zoe saw this and tried to stop herself, but Kayla had predicted that and had frozen the creek making the surface slippery as soap on a water slide. Kayla had also frozen the wall of water which Zoe ended up going head first into. She fell back into the water as it unfroze, she was extremely dazed as Kayla and Percy walked over to the downed huntress.

Kayla grabbed the flag out of her hand and walked back over to their half. All of the campers were shocked that it seemed that they had actually won. The hunters who had Thalia pinned down were now gawking at the sight that they had actually lost, for the first time in so many years. Zoe lay in the freezing cold water cursing herself over and over in ancient Greek that she hadn't seen that coming. The lack of Kayla anywhere at the defense had made her think she was on the offensive but when she saw Percy standing and smiling at the edge of the creek, she should have seen that the two children of the sea had a plan up their sleeves.

Chiron came out into the clearing with a shocked yet smiles on his face. He was so proud that his campers had actually beaten the hunters this time.

'The campers win!' Chiron announced as the campers erupted into a celebration. The hunters on the other hand were kicking the dirt and feeling ashamed of themselves. Kayla walked up to a grumpy Zoe and smiled.

'I told you we would win.' Zoe growled but then gave a friendly smile back.

'I suppose I should have seen that coming. The lack of the Poseidon children startled me, but when I saw Percy standing at the edge of the creek like that, I should have known that was a trap. Well played Kayla. I actually look forward to the next game, if we ever visit the camp again.' Zoe said and walked off to join her hunters.

Kayla walked up to Percy and hi-fived him as they started to laugh. Thalia came up next to them and gave Percy a soft punch in the shoulder.

'You are so lucky you have her to bail you out of that stupid stunt you pulled. You almost cost us the game.' Thalia said. Percy to offense to that.

'Hey! I saw an opportunity and I took it, I'm sure you would have done the same in my position!' Percy retorted. Thalia growled.

'Well your lucky your sister was there otherwise Zoe would have decked you!' Thalia growled getting up in Percy's face. Kayla felt some tension stirring between the two and decided to break it up.

'Hey, hey! We won remember? Does it matter what Percy did? I simply improvised on his little mistake and we won out of it.' Kayla said getting between the two. The campers were starting to take notice and so were the hunters.

'Well I'm sure it wouldn't matter if Thalia didn't stick us on the defensive end.' Percy grumbled. Thalia started to get angry.

'You work best on defense.' Percy was also starting to get angry.

'Oh yeah? How would you know? You've been a tree for the past five years. How would you know what I'm good at?' Percy replied and instantly regretting what he had just said. Kayla face palmed.

'_Baaaad move Perce…'_ Kayla thought as Thalia gave an angry push which was accidentally boosted by an electric current. Percy was sent flying into the river as Kayla turned to Thalia and gave her a glare. Thalia was white as a sheet.

'I-I didn't mean to take it that far-' She never finished what she was saying as she was blasted in a wave of fresh dirty creek water. She was drenched from head to toe. Out of the water Percy stood in a very angry manner. Thalia pulled out her spear which crackled with electricity.

'Bad move Kelp head!' Thalia screamed. Percy raised Riptide and challenged her.

'Bring it on Pinecone face!' They both charged each other but before their weapons could intercept one another, a black and white blade intercepted both of them in the middle. Before any one of them knew what happened. Kayla elbowed her brother in the nose causing him to drop like a sack of potatoes while she rammed the flat end of her black blade into Thalia's forehead. The two dropped like rocks as they hit the ground.

They were both rolling on the ground clutching their injuries that their friend and sister had just gave them. Kayla growled.

'Would you both get a hold of your selves!? We won for Hades sake. It doesn't matter what happened the fact is we won-' She was stopped by a number of gasps pointing in the direction of a green mist that was floating towards the group.

'But it's… impossible…' Chiron muttered to himself. Everyone was silent as the spirit of Delphi, also known as, "The Oracle" was floating her way to a group a hunters in the middle of the capture the flag grounds. The spirit regarded Percy and Thalia first, then Kayla with a frown, then turned to Zoe.

'**_Step forward, and ask.'_** It stated. Zoe stepped forward with worry plastered all over her face.

'What must I do to help my lady?' She asked. The spirit opened its mouth and a green mist floated out:

_Five shall go west to the goddess in chains,_

_One shall be lost in the land without rain,_

_The Sun of Olympus shows the trail,_

_Campers and Hunters shall prevail,_

_The Titan's curse must one withstand,_

_And one shall perish by a parent's hand_

The last line of the prophecy chilled Zoe to the bone. Somehow, she felt that she knew exactly what she was going to happen. Two people would die on this quest and one of them would be her. She was smart enough to piece the puzzle together. Goddess in chains that was Artemis, Titans curse… the only Titan west from here with a curse was her father, Atlas. He had her mistress under his burden.

Zoe would make sure her father would be put back under his burden before she dies, she would make sure of it. It would happen no matter how much pain she would be enduring, she will live to see the day that her mistress put her father back under the sky, where he belongs.

-Line Break-

A/N: Yeah, I feel generous, two updates in one day. This chapter is quite long, 14 thousand words. I enjoyed writing this chapter, quite a lot of fight scenes, bit of drama etc.

The back story behind what that shadow is will expand as the story progresses, so bear with me on that one :).

Other then that, not much to say... and a shout out to **Science Geek8538** for giving me positive reviews :). If you follow or favorite, feel free to leave a review if you want, the more reviews, the nicer I will be and upload more chapters for you guys to read :)

_**That doesn't mean spam the reviews...**_

OH, and if you have the feeling that Kayla is going to overpowered in this story, then your Extremely WRONG. Her powers may seem strong but they come with large downsides which will be revealed later on in the story.

Any, I exams tomorrow, only one and that's English so wish me luck, i'll do my best to try and update another tomorrow night.

See you next chapter :).


	5. Chapter Four

Chapter Four: Heading West

Kayla and Percy both found the Prophecy to be quite disturbing. After Percy and Thalia were forcefully separated and had been calmed down to a certain degree, Chiron had called a meeting to discuss the Prophecy. They had all gathered in the big house around the meeting table to figure out who would be going on the quest and what path they were taking.

Kayla sat next to Percy twirling her thumbs as Thalia and Percy exchanged death stares while Zoe and Bianca and near the end of the table. Chiron and Mr D sat very silent at the other end of the table. Mr D was reading a wine magazine while Chiron managed the meeting.

'Okay, I think we all know what this prophecy means. Artemis has been captured and five must set out immediately. Since the quest was given by the Oracle to Zoe, she is entitled to take who she pleases.' Chiron said, gesturing for Zoe to stand and name her companions. She stood up and cleared her throat.

'I have thought deeply about this prophecy and what it could mean. As much as I hate to admit it, I have to take campers with me as well as hunters. I have decided on the following: I, Bianca, Phoebe, Thalia, and Kayla.' Zoe finished. Bianca was surprised.

'W-why do you want me on the quest? I just joined so I won't be that good…' Bianca said shying away. Zoe just smiled,

'What better way to prove yourself?' She replied. Kayla on the other hand felt very self-conscious as Percy was looking panicked.

'_He must have figured out that they had reached five and he wasn't part of the quest.' _Kayla thought sadly.

'Now hold on a sec… I want to be on this quest to!' Percy protested. Chiron gave a little sigh that Kayla read to say, "Percy please sit down." But Percy didn't notice. Zoe growled.

'I will not allow a male to take part in a quest that involves the hunters. I cannot tolerate traveling with a male on the quest.' Percy looked heart broken. Kayla and Thalia felt bad for him. They both somehow knew they would find Annabeth on the quest and they all knew Annabeth was one of the most important people in his life next to Kayla, his mom, Grover and Thalia.

Percy didn't reply and just sat down silently. He knew that Zoe was not going to let him go, no matter what he would say. Kayla gave her brother a hug which he returned with a smile.

'We will set out in the morning. We can waste no time; we must get to my lady before the winter solstice otherwise the Olympians will fall into chaos without her there. She is the voice of reason that keeps that council together.' Zoe said leaving the room with Bianca. Thalia got up and walked over to Percy with a sad look on her face.

'Don't worry, we will find Annabeth. I promise.' Thalia said putting a hand on his shoulder. Percy just sighed and walked off with a weak smile. Kayla walked up to Thalia as they watched Percy walk off. She could actually feel the sadness around him.

'I hope he's going to be okay. I could tell he really wanted to be on this quest. What do you think it means?' Thalia asked. Kayla frowned; she had already concluded someone was going to die.

'One lost in the land without rain… I don't know Thalia, but I can say for sure, that someone isn't coming back from this quest alive.' Kayla said before walking off to follow her brother.

'Thals, get some sleep. We're going to need it.' Kayla said softly as she walked off back to the Poseidon cabin. Thalia sighed.

'_Yea… I thought that to…'_ She thought before walking back to the Zeus cabin.

-Line Break-

It was an early start. Around five maybe six a.m. they were up and packing ready to leave at six thirty sharp. When the quest group met at the van, Kayla counted four of them.

'Where's Phoebe?' She asked. Zoe growled.

'Stupid, ungrateful children of Hermes, they gave me a t-shirt to give to her. Poisoned with centaur blood, that stuff is acid. She's incredibly sick so she cannot come with us unfortunately.' Zoe said. Kayla and Thalia perked up.

'I can quickly wake Percy up. He can be her replacement.' Thalia quickly suggested. Zoe snapped her head to Thalia and glared at her.

'I made myself clear. No boys on this quest. Four will do.' Zoe said and hopped into the driver's seat and started the van. Bianca hopped in the passenger seat while Thalia and Kayla hopped in the back. Kayla couldn't help but wonder why Zoe hated boys so much. Sure hunters despised boys but there was no reason to outright refuse help when they clearly needed it. Thalia huffed at Zoe but was calmed by Kayla.

'Hehe, don't worry. I think Percy knows were short. He'll follow somehow.' Kayla whispered to Thalia. Thalia raised an eyebrow and chuckled a bit.

'Man I hope you're actually right. I wouldn't mind Kelp head on this quest.' Thalia whispered back.

Since they were leaving camp grounds and going into the public eye, they all had to fit in. Zoe was wearing some loose fitting clothes and some hunting boots, Bianca wore the same. Thalia wore her typical black gothic style of clothing. She had her bracelet on which was where Aegis was kept, and her spear at the ready whenever needed. Zoe and Bianca had either hairclips or bracelets for their bows. Kayla on the other hand wore skinny jeans and a loose fitting t-shirt over her tank top. Her daisy and black bedded bracelets hung loosely around her wrists, earning nervous glances from Thalia.

Thalia had to admit, those swords gave off quite a scary vibe, similar to her shield, Aegis. The black sword looked like it reaped souls and it was as sharp as any sword she had ever seen in her life. The white sword looked beautiful and angelic like and also extremely sharp, two completely opposite blades with two different vibes and looks but at the same time, completely the same in unison.

Thalia decided to ask if they were going in the right direction as they drove through the city. Zoe replied saying that they were going west, exactly what the prophecy said. She also said that they would be following the same tracks the monster Artemis was following as a start.

While Thalia and Zoe were discussing directions, Kayla looked out the window in a bored manner. Something out of the corner of her eye had caught her attention, a reflection on the side of a stainless glass building. She looked closely and saw what it was.

A pure black steed Pegasus flying above them in the distance, she could almost make out who was on top of it but she didn't need to. She saw exactly who it was.

'_Percy… You did follow us… I knew you would.'_ She thought. She was pulled out of her thought as Zoe pulled over next to a space and NASA museum. Thalia and Kayla looked around in confusion.

'Why on earth are we stopping here?' Bianca asked. There was a moment of silence before Thalia and Kayla began laughing. Bianca and Zoe looked confused but Thalia said it was an inside joke that they wouldn't get. Zoe huffed and got out of the van and walked inside followed by the others. As Kayla got out, she looked around. There was no sign of her brother anywhere as she continued into the museum.

When they all got in there as a group, they spent a few minutes walking around. No one found any monster or any trail, it felt like a complete dead end. They all formed a group and began to discuss what they would do from there.

'This is pointless; we should have kept going west. Whatever trail you were following, it's dead now and old.' Thalia said.

'Impossible, these tracks are fresh; they are just all over the place and leading in different directions that we cannot follow.' Zoe argued.

'Well wherever this thing is, we're not going to find it standing around talking about it.' Kayla said.

'We should really get back to the van and continue west.' Bianca said. Zoe growled.

'Who's side are you on!?' Zoe asked. Bianca didn't have the time to answer before a certain boy tripped and fell right into the centre of the group. Bianca and Zoe had arrows at his chest and face when he turned around. Thalia gasped while Kayla rolled her eyes.

'Percy?!' Thalia said as her eyes widened, though Percy seemed to have been running from something.

'Luke.' He breathed out making Thalia's eyes go even wider. 'He's here.'

'What?!' Thalia said making herself sound stupid.

'Luke, Dr Thorn, General. All here, Natural History Museum.' He said as he breathed out.

'The General is here? You lie!' Zoe said poking Percy with her arrow.

'No time… skeleton soldiers.' He said still trying to catch his breath. Kayla's eyes widened.

'What, how many are there!?'

'Twelve, at the most.' He said finally catching his breath.

'Oh jeez.' Thalia said.

'We need to leave, right now.' Zoe said.

'Yeah, good idea.' Percy said however Zoe turned around to stop him.

'I was not talking to you. You have no part in this quest!' Zoe shouted angrily. Kayla went up to Zoe and pushed her away from Percy.

'Hey! He's just trying to help, and so far he's been more helpful than you! He's here now so that makes five. Deal with it Zoe! We need as much help as we can get.' Zoe looked a little hurt but retorted angrily.

'It's not your decision for who stays and who doesn't; I am the leader of this quest!' Zoe snapped. Thalia growled.

'That doesn't give you the right to be the boss and a brat. I don't care how old you are, you have always carried yourself and looked down on everyone else like their trash. I won't have that!' Thalia said getting into Zoe's face. Zoe got into her face as well.

'You've never had any brains or knowledge when it came to boys. You're too short sighted to understand what they truly are and leave them behind!' Zoe growled. Thalia was about to hit her as electricity started to circulate around her fists.

'I know a brave, selfless boy when I see one!' Thalia snapped. Zoe was about to retort but Percy interrupted them.

'Guys… we have a much bigger problem!' As if on cue, a large roar filled the entire museum. All the citizens started to panic and run for the exits. The large monster leaped up onto the floor the five demigods where on and sniffed the air as it turned to them, and it looked really hungry.

'Oh crud, The Nemean Lion.' Thalia whispered, 'Don't move.' No one moved an inch as the Lion eyed us curiously and smelling the air as if it was determining if it found what it was looking for.

'On my mark we split and attack.' Zoe said slowly notching an arrow while Bianca did the same. The Lion was moving closer, step by step. Kayla groaned nervously.

'Zoe?' She questioned.

'Now!' She screamed. Everyone split in different directions. Anaklusmos sprang into Percy's hands while Thalia activated her shield and popped her spear into her off hand. Kayla jumped to the side to avoid a deadly slash from the Lions claws. Her swords sprung into her hands and angled them into the defensive. The Lion seemed to be paying an awful lot of attention to her. She gulped.

'Here kitty, kitty…' She taunted. The Lion reacted and tried to pounce her only for her to dive out of the way. She rolled and shot back to her feet. Meanwhile, Zoe and Bianca fired arrows from the top of an Apollo eleven model in vain as the arrows bounced harmlessly off its metallic fur.

The Lion was about to attack her again before it was struck by a flash of lightening from Thalia's spear. The Lion turned to her only to back away a bit as its eye caught sight of Aegis but it then bent down on its hind legs ready to leap towards Thalia. Percy being the hero caught its attention by using Anaklusmos by throwing it like a dagger at the Lion's rump. It bounced harmlessly off its fur.

The Lion turned to Percy and roared. Percy's eyes widened a little and shouted out to Zoe.

'Zoe, target its mouth! It's the only exposed part!' He yelled.

'I can't get a clear shot! Get it to open its mouth again!' Zoe yelled back. Percy looked around desperately trying to look for something. Suddenly his mind clicked.

'Thals, Kayla, distract it for me for a minute!' Percy yelled running off towards a snack bar as he vaulted over the counter and started throwing stuff around, looking for something. Zoe looked seriously angry.

'Now is no time for a snack boy!' She yelled at Percy as she continued her volley on the Lion. Finally Percy found what he was looking for. He grabbed a few dozen of silver packets in his hands and ran back to the fight. Kayla looked back, her eyes widening in disbelief.

'Percy, what the Hades are you doing!? Help us!' She screamed.

'Get it to open its mouth again!' He yelled back. Thalia registered this and let loose a very powerful bolt of thunder. It hit the Lion hard causing it to roar again. Percy took this chance to throw the ice cream sandwiches into the Lions mouth.

The Lion's eyes went cross-eyed as it tried to cough the horrible stuff back up but it was too late. Zoe and Bianca saw this chance and took it, loading its mouth up with a few dozen silver arrows. The Lion was almost dead but Kayla wasn't convinced. She quickly dismissed her white blade and began spinning the black blade like a helicopter's rotors. She spun it hard as she held it by the end of the chain. Zoe smiled as she saw Kayla practicing this in the combat arena back at camp; this was a deadly move.

Percy and Thalia jumped back from Kayla in shock about to scream at her that she could have taken their heads off.

The Lion was stumbling around in pain with its eyes crossed. It was on the verge of dying.

With one last spin, Kayla threw her blade like a projectile straight towards the Lions throat. The group closed their eyes as the black sword cut clean through the Lions body and sprang out the Lion's rear.

The Nemean Lion melted into golden sand and burst into a black flame. Everyone was surprised by the black flame except for Kayla. It melted away to leave the spoils of war, the Nemean Lion's fur, a nice coat it left behind. Percy and Thalia walked up to Kayla chuckling nervously.

'T-that was some deadly accuracy right there, where in the name of Hades did you learn to do that?!' Thalia said in awe.

'That was disturbingly awesome…' Percy said laughing a little. Kayla laughed a little.

'Well I was practicing while we were back at camp, and I learned how to do it. It just felt natural…' She said. Just as she said that, a large black chain wrapped around her right hand and connected itself to the black chain from the hilt of her black blade. The sword was pulled back into her hand as she looked at it with her eyes wide. Thalia and Percy looked at her, worry clear in their eyes. Zoe frowned while Bianca didn't get it.

'Huh, I guess that what "Bound to the soul" means now. I can't lose them; whatever I do… they will always come back to me.' She said examining the black chain on her blade as if she had never seen the sword before. She dismissed the blade as it faded back into a black bedded bracelet, joining its counterpart.

'Anyway,' Kayla said changing the subject. 'We need to get going.' She said. Zoe walked over and picked up the Nemean Lion fur and handed it to Percy. He frowned.

'No way, Kayla deserves it. She delivered the last blow. It's her kill.' Percy said. Zoe smiled a little.

'It was your ice cream sandwiches that allowed the kill to happen. The spoil is rightfully yours.' She said dumping it in Percy's arms. Percy smiled a little as he went to put it on.

'Not exactly my style, but it'll do.'

'Uh, hello? Skeleton warriors on our trail… we need to get going like, right now!' Bianca said as casually as possible. Percy frowned and nodded.

'Right, they've got my scent, so I'll lead them away from you guys so you can keep on going unhindered.' Percy said as he started to make his way in the other direction before he was stopped by Zoe.

'Stop.' Zoe commanded and then breathed an annoyed sigh. Kayla and Thalia just smiled.

'As much as it pains me to say this, you are the now part of this quest, the fifth member, and we are not leaving anyone behind.' Percy smiled.

'Thanks.' He replied, Zoe growled.

'Don't thank me. Thank your sister. I am only doing this because you have great involvement with her, and turning you away would not put me in her good books. I want her to be a valuable member of the hunt one day if she ever decides to join.' Zoe said in a whisper so Kayla couldn't hear. This made Percy a little angry but decided not to show it.

'Alright, we've wasted enough time. Let's get going before we end up having another brawl.' Zoe said, walking off back to the van. The other's followed without question as they all piled into the van and headed off west once again.

-Line Break-

The van turned and twisted through the streets trying to shake off the pursuers that were currently on their tails. A large black obsidian helicopter was shadowing their movements in the van, no doubt recording it and sending it back to who ever wanted to demigods and hunters dead.

'Foolish mortals, they can never think for themselves.' Zoe huffed as she jerked the steering wheel left, turning into an empty street. Thalia looked back nervously to see the helicopter still on their tail.

'Why are they following us anyway? What do the mortals have against us anyway?' Thalia asked. Zoe sighed and spat.

'Mortals will do anything if they are paid the right amount. Makes me sick, they are a bunch of ignorant fools.' She explained. Percy put his hand to his forehead in thought.

'When I was spying on them in the natural history museum, there were quite a lot of mortals around. Why would they work with them if there are monsters everywhere?' Percy asked. Zoe sighed again.

'Like I said, they will do anything if they are paid a right amount. Plus, I doubt they would see the monsters as titans and most powerful monsters can manipulate the mist and make mortals see whatever they desire to see.' Zoe said.

'What you saw of the general must have been an illusion or an Iris message. He couldn't have been there.' Zoe continued. Percy seemed to gulp a little.

'I don' think an Illusion or an Iris messages have the ability to crack marble floors…' He said nervously. Zoe growled and jerked the steering wheel as they turned into another street with the helicopter still following them. There was silence in the van as the group of demigods and hunters tried to figure out a plan to escape.

Kayla huffed, 'We need to ditch the van, no doubt their just tracking us now.' She said just as an idea popped into her head. It was stupidly dangerous and incredibly reckless but she had to try. She looked at the window seat she was sitting at and widened the window down, enough to climb out. Thalia looked at Kayla with disbelieve on her face.

'What in the name of my father are you doing!?' Thalia hissed. Percy took notice along with Bianca and Zoe. Zoe kept her eyes on the road though to avoid them crashing. Kayla just grinned.

'I'm about to do something really stupid or really smart… Zoe, don't make any sharp turns please.' Kayla said before climbing out of the window and onto the roof of the van.

'Kayla!' Percy screamed in protest but it was too late. She was already on top of the van.

Kayla looked up at the helicopter and summoned both her blades to her hand.

'Here goes nothing…' She said as she gripped the swords by the chains and started to spin them rapidly. Balancing on top of a moving van was not easy, nor was it easy to use a move she had only practiced once and used once on a moving target going at the same speed as she was.

Her blades became spinning blades of death as the black and white blade became a blur as she spun them by their chains that were attached to the hilt. With a grunt she threw them at the helicopter. The helicopter saw this and tried to move out of the way but it was too late. The swords had impaled themselves in the bottom of the helicopter. Kayla was now flying a kite, a helicopter kite as the chains on the hilt had extended and wrapped themselves around her wrist.

She had managed to get a lucky shot and pierce the fuel tank of the helicopter which was now leaking fuel. Her original idea was to kite the helicopter into some buildings by veering it off course but now she had a better idea.

'Bianca!' She yelled out. Bianca popped her head out the window in response.

'Can you fire a flaming arrow or something at where my swords have been impaled?!' She turned her head to see Bianca nodding and put her head back in the van. She emerged about four minutes later notching a flaming arrow at the helicopter. Now whoever was in the helicopter saw what was happening and was trying to veer off but Kayla held the helicopter in place with her swords that were nicely impaled in a spot that made it hard for the helicopter to do anything but follow the van.

Bianca took aim and fired. The flaming arrow seared through the air and impaled right in the middle of Kayla's two swords. In an instant, the helicopter caught fire and promptly exploded, showering black metal parts everywhere. Kayla pulled her swords back to her and dismissed them and climbed back into the van.

'And that takes care of that.' She said smiling. Thalia and Percy were just staring at her in shock. Bianca was laughing while Zoe was just chuckling. Thalia recovered first.

'Okay, as awesome and stupid as that little stunt was... we still need to ditch the van. They are, as Kayla said, most likely tracking us by now. They'll just send more birds after us.' Thalia said while everyone agreed with what she was saying. Percy chuckled.

'Would you look at that? A subway entrance, perfect!' Percy said. Zoe veered into the car park and parked the van. Everyone hopped out and made their way down into the subway station. Bianca looked happy.

'I remember this place. Nico and I passed through here last summer, however I don't remember a Subway here in D.C when we were living here as kids.' Bianca said thoughtfully. Everyone turned to look at Bianca. It was well known this subway station had been around for years, definitely older than fourteen years to be certain. Zoe raised an eyebrow.

'Bianca… what year is-' she was cut off by the sound of multiple helicopters circling the Subway from outside. Percy seemed nervous.

'There's no train going west, only south, to Alexandria.' He said. Thalia grumbled.

'It doesn't matter, we're out of time, and we'll change stations at the next stop.' Thalia said hopping onto the train. Bianca looked nervous.

'Wait… don't we need tickets?' Zoe sighed, don't worry I'll already dealt with that she said holding up five tickets.' Everyone's mouths dropped, Kayla just looked at Zoe.

'When did you…' She started but Zoe cut of her off.

'Come on, we don't have time. We need to leave.' She said getting onto the train. The others shrugged and followed.

It was a frustrating long and the train rides were getting repetitive. The group had changed trains at least three times and they now had no idea where they were currently heading. They had lost the helicopters that had been tracking them but now they were completely lost.

They had gotten off near some old broken down buildings and abandoned warehouses. There were homeless people everywhere. The group walked in a huddle because it was so cold, there was snow everywhere. The group looked pathetic as they approached a homeless man with a barrel of fire. He gave them a toothless grin and gestured to them to warm themselves up.

'We're lost.' Thalia said out loud. Kayla snorted.

'Thanks for stating the obvious.' She said. Thalia glared at her angrily before calming down. They were all tired and annoyed and getting angry was pointless. Percy gazed off west in thought. He wanted to save Annabeth so much it pained him to think about her. It was almost killing him. It was the same for Zoe.

She wanted to save Artemis so much. It made her feel guilty she hadn't argued with her mistress that going off on her own was downright idiotic but she would never say something like that about Artemis. She has her best friend and she treasured her relationship with her so much to break it apart just because of one decision.

Zoe looked at Kayla out of the corner of her eye. She had every quality of a hunter. She was brave, smart, self-less, not afraid to stand up against things she thinks are wrong. Zoe thought she would be killed on this quest, and it summarized it would be Thalia, Bianca or Kayla who would take her place as the Lieutenant of the hunters.

Then there was Percy. Also she hated males for all they were worth, he seemed different. The qualities she normally saw males represent she saw little to nothing of them in Percy. Boys in her vision were selfish and arrogant. They thought they were the best and put others down. All Zoe saw in Percy was bravery and selflessness. He was only on this quest to help her save Artemis and help save Annabeth and he hadn't complained once about Zoe being the leader. In fact he seemed to accept it.

So far, the way Percy acted and interacted and fought sort of impressed Zoe to a certain degree that allowed her to tolerate him.

The toothless man smiled at Percy.

'You need a ride going west?' he asked as if he could read minds. Bianca perked up.

'How'd you know?' She asked. The toothless homeless man smiled and pointed at a train track. They all followed his finger to where he was pointing. It turns out there was a freight train going west, and it was carrying countless numbers of expensive cars. It looked like it was making a short stop as it looked like it had just arrived.

'Well, that's convenient…' Percy muttered, he turned back to the homeless man to thank him but he was gone, and had taken the flames with him. Percy seemed to stare at the barrel which was now just smoking as if the flame was just snuffed out.

The group turned and headed for the train, they got into the train car and made themselves comfortable in different cars. Zoe and Bianca shared one, Thalia had one to herself and Percy and Kayla were in another.

After a while of small talk, Percy had fallen asleep and Kayla got out of the car and looked out across the land as the train took them west. She noticed something was off but she couldn't put her finger on it. After a while of thinking she finally understood what was happening.

'We're moving faster than we should… we're getting help from an Olympian.' She said out loud. She put her fingers outside and touched the metal on the side of the train. She veered back in pain and cursed while she looked at her blistered fingers.

'Apollo' she muttered. She looked back at her brother and saw him clenching his eyes as if he was having a nightmare. She wondered what he was dreaming about. Demigods always seemed to have strange dreams that were either of the past, present or the future. Most of the dreams are always bad.

She hadn't been bothered by her shadow since she had defeated it in her inner world though it did bother her, about what it said. It told her it wasn't over, but it hadn't interfered or done anything so far. The more she thought about it, the more she fears it was planning to take her over at any given time.

'A curse is a curse. There's no beating it, you can only live with it.' Kayla muttered under her breath. She clenched her fists and continued to look out into the sunset. She felt a little lighter inside when she said that. She didn't know why, but she felt it was like the whole weight of the world had been lifted off her shoulders.

She had been so deep in thought that she hadn't noticed that Percy had woken up and left to sit with Thalia in her car, only to be kicked out. Thalia didn't look very happy and Percy had obviously said something to upset her. Typical, boys never really understand how a girl tends to be touchy around different subjects. They may seem to have little reaction when you first bring it up, but inside there is a huge volcano that's erupted and showering meteors of anger and sadness everywhere.

Kayla dismissed these thoughts and brought her mind back on track. They were back on the trail, heading west, just like the prophecy said.

'_One shall be lost in the land without rain…'_ Kayla thought to herself. It made sense. America does seem to have deserts around these areas. She would keep an eye on the weather conditions and warn the others if they were getting too close to a place that seems to dry. Prophecies maybe absolute and breaking them may seem hard, but it's not impossible.

'_Denying fate…'_ She thought again. She flashed back to her first encounter with the shadow. The sisters of fate had appeared in her inner world.

'_You wield our symbol of power… Even we cannot see what will happen as long as you carry those swords.'_ Kayla remembered what the sisters had told her. This opened a lot of options that made her head spin.

'_C-could I possibly have the power to deny fate? Could I stop people from dying when prophecies deem so?'_ Kayla quickly dismissed those thoughts. Toying with fate is dangerous, and could upset the balance. When someone's time is up, it's up. Saving them could throw the balance into complete and utter chaos. It was only something she would do, only something she would ever even try to attempt if she really had to.

'_I'll be playing a very dangerous game if I ever try to save someone from their fate. If I even can that is…'_ She thought to herself.

-Line Break-

They had arrived in a ski resort sort of place, however, there exact position was told to them by Zoe who had previously passed this place with the hunt a few years ago. They were currently in New Mexico, cloud croft. There was a lot of snow around, and everyone was still freezing. Percy had told them he was visited by Apollo and he said that Apollo had told him to head to San Francisco. Zoe was hesitant as when it came to Apollo, her mistress warned her to be wary around her annoying twin brother.

However, the group walked around trying to find a meaning of transport to get to San Francisco but sadly, none of them could find a single meaning of transport.

'Great' huffed Thalia, 'I couldn't find anything that even has a set of wheels, looks like we're stuck here for the time being.' She finished. Kayla caught sight of a coffee shop which made her stomach rumble. She thought they could all do with some refreshments.

'Well, I don't know about you guys, but I could do with a cup of coffee and some food.' Kayla said pointing to the coffee shop. Zoe nodded and turned to the group.

'Alright, you three will continue to search for means of transport while Kayla and I will get us some food and drink.' Zoe said as she turned towards the coffee shop. Percy gave Zoe a little killer glare that she obviously didn't catch onto. Percy didn't trust Zoe around his sister. It sounded like to him that Zoe wanted all the time she could get with her just to try and convince her about joining the hunt.

Percy, Bianca and Thalia walked off into different shops to ask the clerks about any taxi service around while Kayla and Zoe had walked into the coffee shop to buy some food and coffee. Percy was worried as he remembered the General had said that Annabeth would be kept alive until the winter solstice and that was only four days away.

They all met back where they had split up after fifteen minutes. Kayla handed out the food while Bianca told them the bad news. There was a taxi service but it would take about a day to get here, which left them only three days to get to Artemis whose whereabouts are still unknown, however Percy and Zoe had a fair idea where they were going, and so did Thalia.

As the group discussed their next move, a warm breeze of air brushed through the lot of them. The decoration of bird stickers that were on the coffee mugs peeled off flew away. The rubber rat that Percy had bought because she looked sad and lonely came to life, jumped out of his pocket and ran away. Everyone just looked around in confusion except Zoe who was frozen to the spot.

'I never thought I would sense that ever again… That was the presence of Pan, the lord of the wild!' Zoe exclaimed. Percy shuddered to think what Grover would say when he got to tell him about that. If he made it back alive that is. Before anyone could ask Zoe what she was on about, a low growling and the rattle of bones sounded behind the group.

The group of skeleton soldiers had followed them all the way from New York to New Mexico! Percy just sighed and flicked the cap off Anaklusmos as the bronze blade shot out of the pen. Zoe and Bianca notched their bows while Kayla summoned her swords and Thalia, with her spear clicked her watch and Aegis sprang to life.

The skeletons growled and pulled out pistols and batons. No doubt the mist made it look like a bunch of police officers trying to subdue a couple of armed teenagers.

'Attack, now!' Zoe commanded. The fight commenced as Percy charged and sliced through two of the skeletons who now found themselves, dismembered on the ground trying to crawl back to their body parts. Kayla found herself cornered by four of the skeleton police officers with no way out. She was backed up against one of the buildings. One of the officers attacked only to be cut down to size with a quick twirl of her white left handed blade.

The skeleton dropped to pieces and slowly started to reform.

Kayla ducked just in time to avoid a fatal swing from a baton. She countered as she swung her leg under two of the skeletons both sending them to the ground. She was about to attack the other skeleton but turned to find it had an arrow through its head. It fell as behind it was none other than Zoe Nightshade who wasn't even looking at Kayla. Zoe was too focused as she was shooting arrows left and right with barely even a quick glance to see who she was firing at. She obviously knew as she only hit the skeletons.

Kayla quickly ran over and kicked the two skeletons trying to get up and quickly decapitated them and kicked their heads somewhere far away into the snow.

Gunshots sounded and Kayla turned to see her brother fall face first into the snow. Her eyes widened in hatred and fear but those feelings were quickly dismissed as Percy got up perfectly find. Her heart jumped as she remembered the Nemean Lion's coat was metallic.

'My coat is bullet proof!' He exclaimed out loud. Kayla rolled her eyes and turned to fight the two skeletons with her brother. Before she could reach his side, a large boar skidded into the middle of the battle field and raked the two skeletons like they were ragdolls. Pieces of bone and mush flew in different directions.

Kayla looked at the boar. Its eyes were red and bloodshot, it was as if it was on some illegal drug and was on a very angry high.

'What in the name of…' Kayla started before she was cut off by Zoe who answered her question.

'The Erymanthian Boar, I do not think we can kill this beast!' Zoe shouted. Kayla looked at Percy as he did to her. They both gulped and raised their swords in defense to make sure the boar didn't ravage them while they were off guard.

Percy on the other hand, went to his mental connection and screamed at Grover for help since Grover was an expert when it came to wild things. This thing looked just about as wild as things get… drooling and looking like it spiked up on caffeine and a few days of no sleep.

'_Grover! Dude, we got an Erymanthian Boar over here in New Mexico! How do we kill this thing!?' _Percy shouted through his mental connection with the clumsy satyr. He got a response instantly but didn't actually like his answer.

'_An Erymanthian Boar!? Don't kill it! It's a gift from the Wild! Use it to travel, subdue it or something!'_ The satyr replied. Percy muttered under his breath about how helpful that was using a few colorful words.

'Guys, Grover said we need to subdue it and use it to travel! He said it was a gift of the wild!' Percy said as he dodged a charge from the boar by diving out of the way. He landed next to Thalia who Percy pulled out of the way and started to run in an opposite direction, kiting the Boar away from the town. The boar seemed to focus those two.

Kayla had joined Zoe and Bianca who started to take apart the skeletons. Bianca had actually managed to kill one with her hunting knife when it burst into flames. Zoe and Kayla had actually tried to force the information out of her like asking her what type of knife she used and where she stabbed it. She replied with that she had just gotten a lucky shot.

Zoe did what Kayla did. Decapitation and kicked the heads away in a faraway distance. Just as they finished they heard a loud squeal from the Boar as something crashed and made the earth below them shake a bit.

'Whatever Percy and Thalia did, it must have worked. It sounds like that Boar is down for the count.' Bianca said. Zoe and Kayla weren't convinced and followed to where they last saw the son of the sea and the daughter of the sky went.

When they found them, the Board was upturned with its face in the snow, kicking around madly while Percy and Thalia were sitting on Aegis that had landed on a rock. Kayla and Zoe slid down next to Percy while his little sister gave him a little playful smile.

'Snowboarding on a shield with a pig huh?' She chuckled a bit. Thalia looked white as a sheet, compared to the snow, it made the snow look like it had a tan. Percy just chuckled a bit.

'Yeah, I had to think fast, so I used Aegis as a snowboard. The boar seemed dumb enough to follow us down.' Percy said turning to the upturned boar which was still turning and kicking its hooves while its head was buried in the snow.

'Grover said we could use it to travel.' Percy suggested. Zoe seemed to agree.

'I do not see any alternative. However, the Erymanthian Boar can travel long distances in a short amount of time, but piloting will be hard. It is the only way we can reach good speed to make it to San Francisco in time.

'Riding bare back on a boar!? Oh man, this is going to suck so bad…' Percy groaned causing the group to laugh.

-Line Break-

Percy was dead right, but it didn't just suck for him. It hurt for everyone. Kayla would describe it by sitting of a one of the rodeo rides and instead of the bull, just a sack of sharp rocks. Now multiply that by twenty four hours of that, yeah, not so nice to think about.

The boar had reached as far as it would go and they got off. It left in a hurry going back the way it came, leaving the group in a western civilization that looked like it had been abandoned for years. The place was like an out land, where you get those comical western cowboy standoffs with the holstered guns in the middle of a cowboy like town.

It was nightfall and the group was really tired, and needed rest. Riding that boar had taken more energy, patience and endurance than actually fighting it. Zoe had set up a camp fire and sleeping bags as they rested around the campfire. They all had toasted sandwiches with some fresh chicken and freshly cooked vegetables. It was awesome and tasted delicious. Now Percy and Kayla aren't the vegetable type of people, but when it comes to surviving quests, you need as much healthy food as you can to keep you energized.

'Bianca… what you said when we were back in D.C, about that subway not being there when you lived there as kids, what did you mean by that?' Percy asked which seemed to get everyone's attention. Bianca kind of shifted a little by the question.

'What's to talk about, when I was like around four, I don't ever remember a subway being there, that's all?' Bianca said. Everyone shifted nervously even Zoe.

'Bianca, that subway has been there for at least forty or thirty years. It's really old.' Bianca was about to reply but Zoe asked another question.

'Bianca, name the places you have been to in the last year.' Zoe asked. Bianca thought about this for a while.

'Let's see, I was in Seattle with Nico for a while, and then we moved to D.C then to Vegas, then to New Mexico…' That's when Percy stopped her.

'Whoa, whoa. Vegas? You didn't happen to stay at a place called "The Lotus Casino" by any chance, would you?' He asked. Her eyes widened.

'Yeah, me and Nico stayed there for about a month or two until a Lawyer came and told us it was time to leave, why? Do you know the place?' Bianca asked. Percy just paled and started to explain.

'A while ago, it was when I was on my first quest with Annabeth and Grover to recover Zeus's Master Bolt. We got stuck there for an hour and when we came out, five days had passed… the place was made to make you never want to leave.' Percy explained. By now everyone had cottoned on to what Percy was trying to say.

'You said you spent a month in there… Bianca, what year is it right now?' Percy asked. Bianca seemed nervous and uncomfortable.

'1-1945? World war two just finished right?' Bianca said looking for confirmation; unfortunately everyone just looked at her as if she was crazy, until Zoe answered her.

'Bianca… its 2009 now. World war two ended around 75 years ago.' Zoe said in a soft tone as Bianca was clearly panicking. She looked at her hands to see if she had wrinkles.

'I-I'm not that old!' Bianca protested. Percy just looked at her sadly.

'You may not seem old, but you are definitely over eighty years old. It's not your fault though, time flies in that place. It's pretty much like traveling through time, going forward into the future. It's designed to make you never want to leave.' Percy said. Bianca was about to protest but a flash of headlights made everyone jump to their feet and ready there weapons.

A broad man stepped out; he wore a leather jacket and had volcanic red lava like eyes. He had a fiery aura to him that made everyone angry and want to fight and kill whoever stood in their way.

'Ares…' Percy spat. Ares regarded Percy with a sneer and a disgusted look. Before he could say anything, Kayla opened her mouth.

'Oh, you must be the god my brother stomped on when he was twelve, back for a rematch?' Kayla taunted but immediately regretted in when Ares had a sword at her throat in seconds before it was smacked away by Anaklusmos as Percy stepped in front of his sister protectively.

'Your very lucky little sea spawn that I'm under orders not to kill any of you. I would have killed you and your little disgusting seaweed of a sister before you even had a chance to say what happened. However, I would never kill in front of a lady, especially when she has requested the company of someone. Although I hate to say this, Percy Jackson, get in the car and pray that she is more forgiving than I am.

'He is not going anywhere.' Zoe stepped forward. Ares smirked.

'She only wishes to speak with Jackson. You're the last bunch of girls she would ever consider to talk to.' Ares said turning to Percy and shoving him in the car. Ares pulled out his sword and pointed it at Kayla who stepped back nervously.

'By insulting me, I will take that as a challenge. Prepare to die little demigod.' Ares said. Something then clicked in Kayla's brain. They were in a land without rain and she was about to fight the war god. Would she be the one that's lost?

She dismissed those thoughts and summoned her swords to her side. Ares grinned.

'A duel wielder? I'm impressed, not many fighters can fight with that style, let alone master it.' Ares said summoning another blood red sword to fight with. Kayla looked grim. She was nervous, could she beat him? Or would she fall to the blade of Ares and for fill the line of the prophecy as the one who is lost in the land without rain?

Ares attacked without warning causing Kayla to be instantly pushed into the defensive. He hit had and he was pushing her hard. He was fast, but so was she. She started to counter and parry the attacks instead of just blocking them. Suddenly an arrow whizzed past Ares's shoulder causing him to spin in disgust.

'Stay out of this! This is a duel, no interference!' Ares commanded causing all their weapons to drop out of Thalia, Zoe and Bianca's hands. Ares turned back only to be punched in the face by an angry Kayla whose eye's burnt with determination.

The fight continued, slowly tipping in Ares's favor as he started to toy with her.

'Your brother only defeated me because of a slight upper advantage, something that does not aid you right now. You have no chance in beating me. You will die here today, spawn of Poseidon!' Ares yelled charging her again, knocking her on her backside.

She rolled out of the way to avoid a fatal swipe and leaped to her feet. Thalia, Zoe and Bianca were cheering her on. She wouldn't loss, not to this guy, even if he was a god. She pushed forward, cutting and slashing and actually putting pressure on Ares. They were both fighting on even terms, both with two swords and both very powerful.

Kayla managed to knock Ares's off balance and kick him to the ground as well as smacking a sword out of his hand. He growled as he rolled out of the way, picking up his knocked away sword in a cartwheel and came at Kayla from her side. She smiled and began spinning her white blade by the chain.

Before Ares knew what hit him, he had a white blade sticking out of his shoulder, with golden ichor leaking down his right shoulder where he was impaled. He was severely injured but the same could be said for Kayla. She had a number of bleeding cuts where he had sliced her skin open. She had protected her fatal area's well and defended her non-fatal area's less, but the more pain is inflicted, the more tired and fatigue you gain, which means your defense drops long enough for a fatal wound to be attacked.

Kayla pulled on the white chain and the sword was ripped out of his shoulder and flew back into her hand with only a tug. The three girls on the side-lines cheered as Ares dropped to one knee grunting in pain. Kayla sort of pushed a sword into the ground and lent on it for a rest.

Zoe stepped forward facing Ares wearing a smug smile on her face.

'You lost, now leave us alone.' Zoe said with a stern voice. Ares only laughed and stood up as if was just any other day.

'Lost? Seriously come on now, I'm just getting started, we're both standing and that means this battle isn't over yet.' Ares said summoning his two blood red blades back to his hands and pushing Zoe out of the way to make his way towards his target. It was clear Ares was out for blood. He didn't want to just kill Kayla; he wanted to kill her to make Percy suffer for beating him when he was twelve.

Kayla growled and stood back up; pulling the sword she was resting on out of the ground, ready for round two. She gritted her teeth and charged. Ares dropped into a defensive stance as he blocked every strike with little difficulty.

Kayla tried to pressure his wounded side which was the most vulnerable and probably the weakest which would give her an advantage. However, Ares had no stronger hand. He was perfectly balanced on both his left and right, which made it easier for him to strike her when she's trying to focus on his wounded strike.

Ares saw a chance and brought his blade him across her midsection, spraying her blood into the air. She stumbled back a few steps, holding her very raw stomach. The cut was deep and she was bleeding out. Her vision started to fade as she could hear the screams of her friends, and now her brother who had obviously finished up what he was doing in the car. She dropped to her knees as she saw Ares approach her and rising his sword above her head to execute her.

Percy who had just gotten out of the car after his hot stuffy uncomfortable convocation with Aphrodite was now witnessing his own sister, about to be executed by an enemy who he had beaten a long time ago.

Kayla saw this, the one lost in the land without rain; it was going to be her. Here she was, on her knees in front of a god who she had mouthed off to and now she was going to pay the price for it. She couldn't help but shed a tear. She looked down at the dry ground. It was so dry, in a matter of seconds it would be wet again with her blood.

Ares looked down at her and smiled.

'You put up a good fight, but not good enough.' Ares said bringing his sword down on her neck. Percy screamed in protest but then stopped as his eyes widened as well as everyone else's.

'Oh no…' Thalia breathed out slowly.

Ares was the most shocked. His eyes were widened at the fact that the girl who he was about to execute, a girl who had no energy left… _Had caught his blade, bare handed._

An animalistic laugh echoed the silent barren waste land. Kayla tipped her head up and looked straight at Ares, although this was not Kayla anymore. The sea green eyes had been replaced with black orbs of a void.

'**Nice day to rip a god to shreds isn't it?'** The raspy voice spoke out. Ares was shaken as the being he knew as Kayla burst into a black flame. Her black hair was lit ablaze and her swords were now encased in Greek fire. The green flames were licking the ground, charring the dry soil and dirt.

The shadow had taken over once again.

The shadow stood up and kicked Ares in the stomach. Ares flew about fifty meters and landed hard in the dirt as the shadow Kayla slowly walked towards him. The blood from the large flesh wound had now been healed and a large scar took its place.

'**So pathetic, poor little Kayla can't even take down a weak little war god, how embarrassing.'** The shadow said as it sliced across the immortal body of the war god. His clothes burst into flames as golden ichor spilled everywhere; however the shadow wasn't finished yet. As Ares tried to retaliate, the shadow kicked him the in the face, sending him back a few meters.

Ares quickly got to his feet after using his power to extinguish the flames. He summoned his swords and stood in defensive.

'What are you?' Ares commanded. The shadow chuckled.

'**Wouldn't you like to know? It's strange, a minute ago you were about to kill her, now you want to know what the beast that lives inside her mind is? What makes her so interesting that you still won't kill her now? I don't think you've realized yet that I am Kayla; I am the shadow that lives inside of her. I am the pure instinct that comes out when she can't take anymore.'** It replied. Ares grumbled and scoffed.

'You sound like a roman. You talk about fear and inner beasts. You describe her as if she was a god and you were her Roman aspect.' Ares said. The shadow grinned and started to laugh hysterically.

'**Gee, who knows these days whose Roman and who's a Greek? You god's just going around knocking up any chick you seem to like! I'm surprised this Titan war hasn't happened more frequently with the way you gods act and treat you children.'** The shadow said. Everyone seemed to take this into consideration especially Thalia as she thought about Luke. The only reason he wasn't with them right now was because of the way Hermes treated him and May. It felt wrong and even though this shadow seemed evil, it pointed out a lot of valid points.

'Enough!' Zoe said stepping forward into the fight. She turned to the shadow and growled.

'Kayla told us you wouldn't be bothering her! What changed?' Zoe asked. The shadow grinned again as the blades Greek flame licked the air like hungry dogs.

'**Her mind became full of despair that she was going to die and be the one to for fill the line of the Prophecy, "One shall be lost in the land without rain" remember? Look around you Zoe Nightshade; we're in a freaking desert. Good one.'** The shadow mocked. Zoe growled lower than she did before. This shadow had some nerve, even if it was more powerful than her mistress, she would not be mocked like that.

Zoe was about to pull an arrow on the shadow corrupting Kayla's body but was pushed aside by Ares.

'I will fight this thing. It has insulted me long enough.' Ares said charging the shadow. In a few seconds, the two were locked in battle, but it was clear who was going to win. The shadow was toying with Ares just as it did with Artemis.

Percy, Thalia, Bianca and Zoe all watched as the shadow sliced through the two blood colored swords and carve deep flesh wounds into Ares body before Ares had actually had enough.

Ares was lying on the ground, bloodied and beaten. The shadow laughed once more and raised the black sword to finish the war god before something happened.

The flame encasing her hair vanished as well as the flames on the swords. Her eyes returned to deep sea green as she collapsed screaming. She hit her knees breathing hard, sweating like it was a million degrees and the sun itself was atop of her. The group of demigods ran to her side, while Ares looked at her with fear before angrily vanishing into a red mist of blood.

'Kayla, are you okay?' Percy said giving her a hug. She was still in shock as she felt her stomach. She felt a scar that had been healed. She was still breathing heavily as she returned the hug.

'I-I was so scared I was going to die… Then, I just… blacked out, and I slowly fought back control of my body from that dammed shadow. I thought I had dealt with it… obviously not, I can still feel I have most of the dominance over my mental state so it shouldn't surface like that again unless I'm in a similar situation.' Kayla said turning away from the group. Percy looked at her worryingly as he looked around to find that Aphrodite had left already in her limo.

Zoe stood up in front of the group and walked forward to face a long graveyard type place. It was littered with all sorts of junk, junk that the demigods recognized to be junk of the gods. Zoe turned to the group with a bad look on her face.

'This is the Junk yard of the gods… whatever you do, don't touch a single object in this place.' Zoe said. Percy and Bianca helped Kayla to her feet as they continued into the junk yard of the gods, obviously not knowing what sort of fate and challenge awaited them in that cursive place.

Percy thought about the line, "One shall be lost in the land without rain". It didn't exactly mean that someone was going to die. It just said lost, which meant all sorts of different things. Prophecies had a tendency to have double meanings just like Annabeth always said. Just when you think they mean something, it's completely different but the same.

Kayla still had a bad feeling about being here, something in her gut was continually nagging at her to run away but she wouldn't. She was slightly tired from her fight with Ares but that wouldn't slow her down, no way. She would make it through this quest alive, no matter what. She also thought about Thalia, she knew she was a daughter of Zeus, and he was one of the big three, and she was older than both her and Percy, maybe she was the prophecy child. She was days away from sixteen which meant that the Great prophecy was going to come true soon.

The quest group entered the graveyard, determined to carry on but without knowing that for certain, they would only be leaving… with four.

-Line Break-

This graveyard was littered with tons and tons of cool stuff. The group minus Zoe couldn't help but stare googly-eyes at some of the stuff. There were cars, buildings, weapons, automatons… you name it and it would have been there thrown among the rubbish and junk somewhere. Most of the stuff was thrown away automatons that Hephaestus had made, probably scarps, some probably didn't work properly.

Zoe kept reminding the group that even though some of the stuff looked in perfect condition, it was there for a reason, and a reason that was best left alone.

After wandering around aimlessly for a few hours the group started to get bored as they felt like they were going in circles.

'I swear I've seen that bus before at least three times now.' Thalia said dully. Zoe growled and turned to keep walking.

'Well if the gods actually cleaned this place up once in a while, I'm sure it would be much easier to navigate!' Zoe retorted. Thalia responded with a huff as they continued walking. Kayla looked at some of the stuff and picked up a hair clip as it turned into a bow. Kayla smiled and turned to see Zoe smack it out of her hands.

'Hey, that hurt!' Kayla moaned and rubbed her hand slightly, pouting at Zoe. Zoe just sighed and glared at her.

'This junk is here for a reason, be it cursed or broken.' Zoe reminded everyone. They all muttered and kept on walking. It wasn't long before they heard something in the distance, the sound of scraping metal and broken parts moving. Everyone stopped and tensed up, not daring to move as the sound got closer.

The vibrations in the ground got more violent and more thunderous and before the group knew it, a large shadow towered over them as they slowly turned to face the giant scrap of metal.

'Talos!' Zoe screamed, 'Run!' The group turned and ran as fast as they could towards the exit that was only about one hundred meters ahead of them. However, the large metal warrior was hot on their tale and jumped over them, landing in front of the exit.

'No!' Thalia growled as she skidded to a stop. Talos then slowly pulled out a large metal sword, preparing to turn them into demigod slices.

'That isn't Talos, it's just a defective model, and it's far smaller than the original.' Zoe told the group however Talos's eyes glowed brightly as it obviously didn't like being called defective. Kayla's sweat-dropped as she turned to Zoe with her eyes bulging out of her head.

'Wait a minute, you telling me the original is bigger than this? It's like fifty feet tall!' She protested. Zoe just gulped and nodded.

'No weapons will help us here. We have to find a way to get away from it, or trick it into getting trapped.' Zoe said as she began to run the other way firing arrows at its thick metal head.

Talos's large broadsword was clearing mountains of garbage and junk as the metal man swung its swords around, trying to get a hit in on the demigods but it was like trying to hit flies with a stick. The demigods were everywhere at once, splitting up in different directions, confusing the large giant.

The arrows that Zoe and Bianca were firing were like tiny pinpricks on its metal skin and where ever it went, it made sure to block the exits. Percy and Thalia were trying to lead it into traps that lead to nowhere except a dead end when Percy and Thalia would slip through its metal legs and run back the other way.

Thalia kept summoning bolts of lightning and striking the large giant from the sky, however there was no avail. It would only leave a charred smoky spot on top of its head that it barely noticed.

Talos turned his attention to Zoe and Bianca, swinging his sword down between the two archers causing them to spilt up and run in different directions. The metal giant was once again confused to who to go after, when he chose Zoe. The monster thundered after the huntress before she was pulled into a haystack of metal objects and silenced by Kayla.

Kayla put her hand over Zoe's mouth stopping her from saying anything. The giant stopped and scanned the area for a few minutes. The only thing you could hear was the turning of gears, the squeaks of un-oiled metal and the wind blowing. Zoe turned to Kayla slowly with a annoyed look.

'It's got all the exits blocked. We cannot get out without shutting it down.' Zoe whispered in Kayla's ear. Kayla nodded glumly as she tried to scan the metal giant for weaknesses. Her eyes widened in shock as she saw Bianca approaching the back of Talos and open a metal hatch in his foot.

'Bianca, no!' Kayla screamed giving away their position. Kayla raced out in front of Talos only to realize how much of stupid that move was. Talos now had her in its sights as it turned and raised its sword arm. Kayla turned to run but tripped over a piece junk which caused her to fall flat on her face. She turned around to see Talos bring the sword down to slice her in two. She closed her eyes and prayed for it to be painless.

But it never came.

Kayla opened one eye to find the sword, mere centimeters above her body. She opened both of her eyes and rolled out of the way to see Talos going haywire. Sparks were shooting from its neck as bits and pieces of the metal giant started to fall away.

'Bianca!' Percy said running to his sister's side and examined what was happening to Talos. Bianca was ripping it apart from the inside out.

Suddenly, Talos gave a violent jolt as electrical currents surged up through the metal being and promptly exploded, sending large pieces of metal flying everywhere. The group was all smiles until they saw Talos explode.

Zoe's face went pale white with shock, the same with Percy's. Thalia started to cry as Kayla just remained stoic. They all watched as different parts of Talos that remained where on fire and burning rubbish and junk around them. It didn't matter how strong Bianca was or ever could have been.

She could have never survived that.

Percy was the first to break out of the shock and raced forward, checking all the flaming parts of the metal giant. He dug his hands into the flaming metal and ripped out parts frantically trying to search for Bianca, or any sign of her. He turned to the three girls who were still standing where they were. His faced screwed up angrily.

'Help me find her!' He screamed angrily. Percy didn't even wait for a response as he tore through metal parts like they were made of something like paper. He was almost crying and Kayla could have sworn she heard him say something about a promise he had made, and how he had failed. Who had he promised?

Finally he screamed in pure rage and kicked some flaming metal parts as they flew out of distance. He fell to his knees and cupped his head.

'I shouldn't have let her go… should have been me.' He muttered under his breath and choked sobs. The three girls approached him hesitantly as they were in the same state he was, except more controlled.

'Not even a body or anything to bury. It's like she vanished into thin air!' Percy choked, getting up to his feet. He turned to the rest of the group. Zoe's eyes were turning red, Thalia looked terrible and Kayla was covered in soot from the explosion and from hiding in amongst the junk. His face hardened with a new resolve in mind.

'No one else dies on this quest. I won't let it happen.' He stated as he walked off to find a way to get out of this place.

Zoe felt terrible, how could she have not seen it coming? Bianca, only about a week into being in the hunt and now she's already fallen. Zoe swore at herself over and over in her mind for not seeing this death. Hopefully Nico would understand what happened to his sister.

'The one lost in the land without rain…' Thalia muttered. 'That doesn't mean she's dead right? I mean, lost means can find or… or maybe she escaped before it exploded?' Thalia looked to Zoe and Kayla for confirmation. She got no responses, only sad and depressed looks. Thalia huffed with anger as electricity circled her body as she stomped off somewhere to morn over Bianca.

Before Kayla could say anything, Zoe was gone to, walking off to help Percy find transport. Kayla knew Bianca was dead. As soon as Talos exploded, it was like something was switched on, like turning a light on and off. As she thought about it more, she begun to theorize what it meant, but she couldn't be sure yet, she just had to wait until another line of the prophecy came true.

-Line Break-

The next hour, the group found themselves on the highway leading out of the junkyard. Zoe was driving with Percy in the front seat while Thalia sat in the back with Kayla. They all felt terrible about Bianca's death. It just wasn't fair, she had only learnt about the demigod world a few days ago, and now she's already dead. Just goes to show how dangerous a demigod's life is. Life had a cruel way of telling you when your times up, and it just did it in one of the worst possible ways for Bianca.

Two days left until the winter solstice and their next stop was Hoover Dam, a place Percy felt even more depressed about because it was a place Annabeth had always wanted to go. Going there without he felt like a slap to the face.

'We're running out of time, we will never make it to San Francisco this way.' Zoe said pulling up near a Hoover Dam car park. They had to go up river to get to where they wanted to go so they rented a few kayaks and made their way up stream. Once again, it was Zoe and Percy sharing a boat and Thalia and Kayla in the other.

Kayla caught sight of Zoe and Percy engaged in a deep conversation by the way Zoe was making her facial expressions. Percy took out his pen and gave it to her, when she refused and pushed it back into his hand, she smiled. Percy put it back into his pocket and gave her a weak smile as well.

'_I wonder what their talking about.'_ Kayla thought to herself. She had also noticed that Percy had asked the help of some local river nymphs to help with the speed. Kayla saw one of the water nymphs squirt water into Zoe's face as she stood up drawing her hunting knife in a rage before being calmed by Percy. Kayla chuckled to herself.

'Those two would make a great couple…' Kayla said out loud. Thalia gave a little chuckled and snorted.

'Well for one Zoe's a hunter so she would never even think about getting involved with a boy, and second she's too thick headed to see a good man when there's one right in front of her.' Thalia said. Kayla raised an eyebrow with a smirk.

'Got a thing for my brother huh?' Kayla teased, however Thalia was not amused in the slightest and replied dully.

'No, he's just a really good friend you can rely on when you need them the most. He puts others before himself, that's what makes him a good friend. I don't like him that way, I've seen the way Annabeth looks at him, it's clear those two have a thing for each other anyway. Plus I've had bad experiences with boys, I don't trust them. Percy is the only one I trust.' Thalia said sadly. Kayla frowned, obviously disappointed.

'Oh, I see…' She said. Talk about a major shut down. She was just trying to lighten the mood for god's sake. When the group arrived at Hoover Dam, they got off and tied their boats to the small dock and walked up the long stairway towards the top. When they got to the top, Zoe was obviously frustrated as she was impatient and really hungry.

'Where's the dam snack bar when you need it!' She growled. The others had a look of amusement on their faces as Zoe turned to find the three trying to hold back laughter.

'What's so funny?' She asked, obviously not understanding the joke by the lack of humor she possessed.

'Yeah, I need to use the dam restroom!' Thalia said holding her sides from laughing so hard. Bianca's death was obviously out of their minds as they were too busy laughing at Zoe.

'I don't get it.' Zoe deadpanned. Percy just sighed and walked off to find another means of quick transportation. Meanwhile, Zoe, Kayla and Thalia found the snack bar and where scoffing down quantities of pre-ranged snacks, saving some for Percy when he returned.

-Line Break-

Percy wandered around aimlessly trying to find some other means of getting out of Hoover Dam and off towards San Francisco. He remembered what Apollo, or Fred had told him while he was alone in the train car, back when Bianca was still alive. He told him that they needed to go to San Francisco, but how in the name of Zeus were they going to get there?

After speaking to a number of different people who just happen to be tour guides at Hoover Dam, Percy couldn't find a single means of getting out of here. He started to get frustrated as he continued to walk around. He finally had enough when he realized he had been walking in circles. He was just about to scream in frustration when he heard a hissing sound behind him and the clatter of bones.

Percy closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. 'Oh come one…' Percy growled softly as he spun around, uncapping Riptide and slicing through one of the skeletons. A nearby tourist saw this and screamed as it looked like a little boy had just dismembered a police officer.

The room was thrown into chaos as Percy quickly fled to an elevator, heading down to the base of the Dam. As he got off, he continued down the walkway, passing all the other people as he could clearly hear behind him, the hissing of the skeletons.

'_How did they follow me so quickly?'_ Percy thought as he turned a corner and hit a dead end. His eyes widened as he got behind something that block the view. He waited, and waited. He knew these monsters could smell his scent, and right now they had cornered Percy.

Percy heard footsteps coming from the direction he came, he quickly steeled himself and jumped out and swung his sound diagonally. Percy's eyes widened as he saw it was just a girl who was writing something down on a notepad. She screamed and jumped back, however the sword was already in motion as it passed through her harmlessly.

Percy dropped the sword and stood back trying to calm himself as his heart was racing at a million miles an hour. The girl looked and him angrily and stepped forward and pushed him.

'Who the hell do you think you are swinging swords at tourists?! I should report you to the police!' She almost screamed. Percy hushed her by putting his hand over her mouth and dragging her into a corner where he sat her down.

'You can see my sword?' He asked stupidly. The girl slapped him in the face.

'Do I look like I'm blind? Either it's a sword or an overly large needle.' The girl said. Percy's eyes widened. He hadn't met another mortal with a clear sight through the mist before, they were said to be rare and extremely uncommon to find. Percy looked around, as he could hear the hissing getting closer.

'Listen, I haven't got much time left, there are these things after me and I really need to get away.' Percy said. However the girl wasn't even listening as she asked a completely different weapon.

'How did your sword pass right through me?' She asked. Percy huffed.

'You're not listening. Okay, my sword is made of a material that can't harm mortals okay? There done. Now I really need to get out of here.' Percy said in a panic. She huffed.

'Mortals? You sound like you're not a mortal, are you something else?' She asked as if she were offended. Percy sighed as he heard people talking to the skeletons only a few meters from where they were sitting, behind a corner out of sight.

'Okay listen, I'm half god, half human. Okay? There's this thing called the mist, I won't go into detail, but it stops mortals from seeing monsters and other dangerous things in the world. Take Greek myths for example, Hydra's, Cyclops', their all real. Okay, now that you have got all that, I really need to get out of here!' Percy whispered.

'Okay, I see, well not really.' She said putting a hand to her forehead as if she was thinking. Then she smiled.

'Stay here and wait for my signal.' She said. Percy frowned.

'What?!' He protested, but she had already gotten up and walked over to the skeletons. Percy peaked out from his hiding spot to watch her. She looked pale white, like Thalia did when Percy had gone snowboarding on Aegis with her to avoid getting ravaged by that boar.

The skeletons took notice of the girl as they walked towards her. She steadied herself and made herself look angry.

'Some police officer's you are! You let a sword swinging maniac down here! In case you're wondering he went that way!' She said in a rage pointing in the opposite direction. The skeletons looked confused as they shrugged and went off in the direction she pointed in.

Percy felt relieved as he got up from his hiding spot and walked over to the girl with a smile.

'Thanks… uh, what's your name?' He asked stretching the back of his head. She turned to him and frowned.

'Rachel Elizabeth Dare… and you are?' She asked crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow. Percy swallowed nervously; this girl sure did know how to stare straight into your soul.

'P-Percy Jackson.' He said. She seemed to lean closer.

'I think I remember that name, I remember that name being wanted around two years ago.' She said. Percy gulped and turned around and started to run in the opposite direction.

'Well thanks Rachel, I guess I'll see you around!' Percy said as he ran off. Rachel went red with anger as the mystery boy she had just met ran off.

'H-Hey! Come back here!' She yelled, however Percy was long gone, finding his way back to his friends to warn them about the skeletons that had caught up to them.

-Line Break-

After half an hour of waiting they were just about to leave, when Percy raced through the elevator doors and into the snack bar room. He ran through so many people, pushing people out of the way and stopping right next to the snack bar for only a brief second before continuing to run.

'Skeletons, right behind me!' He breathed out. That was their cue to leave. They raced out onto the bridge only be cornered by even more skeletons then they had seen while they were in New Mexico.

Zoe drew her bow and notched an arrow, Thalia pulled out Aegis and her spear, Kayla's swords sprung from their bracelets and Percy uncapped his sword and Anaklusmos, which also found a way back into his pocket, sprung out in all its glory. The group of demigods tried to battle their way out of the trap however, for every three skeletons they would dismember, another six would take their place. Percy tuned and saw two large bronze statues with wings on them. He remembered something he was told and an idea clicked in his head.

'Thalia! Pray to your father!' Percy said slicing through two more skeletons. Thalia had just finished spearing four skeletons in a row as she turned to Percy with disbelieve on her face.

'He's never answered them before!' She replied. Percy huffed and smiled.

'Something tells me he will now.' He said slicing through another one. Thalia ran up to the statues and started to pray, hoping it would work.

Kayla and Zoe were back to back as Kayla sliced through any skeleton that came at her while Zoe picked every skeleton that even thought about coming near her. She turned to see Thalia praying to her father, unprotected, so Kayla and Zoe jumped over to her and defended her.

'Whatever you're hoping to achieve, do it faster. We're running out of time!' Kayla said slicing through a skeleton and kicking its head away. Thalia growled as she knew she was running out of time. She started to pray random stuff to her dad, just hoping to get his attention.

'_Hey dad? Were about to die down here, so could you like, I don't know, throw a lightning bolt down or something?!'_ she pleaded. The skeletons numbers were increasing and they were all now backed right down to a few meters of space. Suddenly a large shadow appeared over the four and in the space of a few seconds; they were picked up by the bronze angel statues and flown away.

It turned out these statues migrated like birds and often went from one place to another. Coincidentally enough, their next stop was San Francisco and that they would drop the group at the bottom of Mount Tamalpais.

Thalia, who was dead struck with the fear of heights, kept her eyes closed the entire journey to San Francisco earning a few chuckles from Zoe, Percy and Kayla along the way. The angels started to pick up speed as they reached a speed that was close to breaking the sound barrier. Percy had questioned that they would get blown away by the speed that they were going at, but it seemed calm. It was like there was a magic bubble around each statue keeping the air resistance out of the way.

As the group entered San Francisco they could clearly see in the distance that Mount Tamalpais had large black clouds around it. The mist felt heavy here, extremely heavy, like it made you feel like you were short of breath. As the angels set them down at the entrance of Mount Tamalpais, the group could feel the tension rolling off Zoe like it was a wave of forgotten emotions, now surfacing again. Zoe actually looked nervous which made everyone else nervous. The only time she looked nervous was when Percy showed up and told them that the general was in their area.

Percy looked at her and she almost looked like she was in his dream about her and Hercules. He thought about how he abandoned her and left her to the cruel fate of banishment. Percy scowled, he used to look up to Hercules, as a hero that everyone adored, but now Zoe had shown him his true colors.

Percy saw a pile of burning trash, so he decided to take advantage of it. He walked up to it and took off the Nemean Lion's pelt and threw it into the fire.

'For the Goddess Artemis, give her the strength she needs to hold out just a little longer.' Percy said as he threw the coat into the fire. The pelt disintegrated and a nice blue flame emitted from the fire before disappearing. Zoe was awestruck by Percy's actions. The Nemean Lion's coat was a spoil of war other hero's would kill for! He had just sacrificed it to give her mistress a little more strength to hold the sky up for longer.

Normally Zoe would kill a boy to ever try to do that. It would be seen as taking pity, but this was different. He did it out of the kindness of his heart… this was truly a different side of a male she had never witnessed before, and she liked it. Zoe smiled at Percy as he returned.

'You know, if you were a female, you would have made a great hunter.' Zoe said smirking. Percy paled and rolled his eyes as Zoe began to laugh.

They turned back to the entrance as Zoe's expression turned back to grim. She frowned as the sun rested behind the mountains in the distance. The entrance suddenly changed to a different sort of entrance, it was a large metal gate with black metal bars. As the quest group approached, the metal cage door seemed to open very slowly, just enough for the group to walk through.

Percy thought that if Grover were here, he would have had a heart attack just by how fresh and clean this place smelt. However, the garden was not the first thing on their mind as their eyes were glued to the large monster that lay asleep as it's large thick reptile like body lay in knots around a tree in the middle of the garden. The large dragon lay around the tree, as if it was guarding it with its life, from this tree hung golden apples that made everyone's mouth water.

'Ladon…' Zoe said sadly, as she turned to the group, almost tearing at the eyes. 'I'm home.'

-Line Break-

A/N: Alright, that's the next chapter done.

Just a side note, I am writing this story using Microsoft Word 2010, so if you spot a sentence that doesn't make sense, well I probably missed it as I went through editing, so I am very sorry if I missed a handful of sentences.

Also, i would heavily like to point out that this Fic is not a self-inset, although it may seem that way, I am a male, just so you know. (Not sure if it makes a difference because I'm writing about a female character.) but i assure you i did not aim for this to be a self-insert.

For those of you who are bothered by the fact that Kayla received training and Percy didn't, well that's because Poseidon was only able to take Kayla to his home because the two children could not be together. Plus Zeus and the other gods already knew that Percy was going to be born, however they didn't see Kayla. To keep her safe, Poseidon took her to his realm and trained her, and i'll say this once more... _**She isn't going to be over powered, her powers are unique with awesome abilities but they also come with large downsides.**_

Hope this clears things up.

Thank you to all the reviewers, people that Favorited and the followers, it may not be a lot but for my first posted story, its a lot to me so i thank you guys! :)

See you guys next chapter :).


	6. Chapter Five

Chapter Five: A Fate Denied

The large dragon eyed them like they were walking steaks, topped with some delicious sauce. The mouths of the different heads started to drool an acid like liquid that made Kayla and Thalia want to puke. Percy covered his nose and looked away however; Zoe was the only one unaffected by it. She slowly approached the dragon, but before she could get closer, three sisters simmered into existence in front of her.

'Sisters…' She growled dangerously, her fingers slowly making their way towards her bow. One of the sisters hissed while the others scoffed.

'We see no sister here! Only a hunter and three demigods, who all of which will very soon, die a painful death.' Percy stepped forward, a pissed expression, written all over his face.

'I'm sorry to burst you little bubble there, but no one else is dying here. We will all make it through, I don't care what stands in our way, we are rescuing Artemis, and we're taking back Annabeth!' He yelled drawing Riptide.

The dragon still glared at them hungrily, it wanted food more than it wanted to protect the tree.

Zoe drew her bow as the Hesperides jumped back and sneered.

'You all must have a death wish if you want to get past Ladon!' One of them said. Kayla stepped forward, her two blades snapping into existence.

'Like my brother said, we don't care how hard it is. We will pass.' She said as she stood next to her brother. The Hesperides eye's widened as they caught sight of the swords. They shrieked and jumped back even further.

'It's true!' one of them screamed.

'The swords of fate! The power to kill an immortal is in the hands of a half-blood!' Another shrieked. The group stood and watched the sisters shake in fear as they couldn't keep their eyes off the blades that Kayla held. Even Ladon seemed to lose his appetite and pull his many heads away from that direction.

Kayla remembered the first time she fought her shadow, the sisters of fate had appeared in her inner world, and they had told her she wielded their symbol of power. She glanced at her blades.

'_The swords of fate…'_ She thought to herself. '_It can cut any string, mortal or immortal!'_ She thought as her eyes widened in realization. Although the fact she now dawned on that she could actually kill a god, she didn't show it, she kept a hard gaze on the sisters who were still slowly backing away in fear.

'Let us pass, now!' Kayla ordered. The sisters hissed as they disappeared in a mist.

'Never! Ladon attack!' The last one said before she completely disappeared in a faint mist. Ladon however, was now occupied by a different person who was slowly approaching it.

'Zoe!' Thalia hissed, 'You're not a Hesperid anymore, he'll kill you!'

If Zoe gave any recognition of hearing Thalia's warning, she obviously didn't care as she continued to approach the dragon in a calm content manner.

'Go around the sides, I'll keep him occupied. As long as I remain the larger threat, he will ignore you three. Go!' She ordered. The three half-bloods waited no longer as they slowly made their way around the tree of immortals. All the dragons' eyes that probably, if you were to count, would go up to around the thousands were focused directly on Zoe. She smiled as she approached the dragon.

'It's me my little dragon, Zoe has come back.' She said as if she were singing. Her voice left a beautiful ring to it. It was soothing to listen to, so soothing it could put you to sleep as soon as the first word would come out of her mouth.

'She would make a great mother…' Kayla said. Thalia chuckled softly.

'I wouldn't say that to her if I was you…' Thalia said trying to stay quiet. In the background, you could hear the whispers of the Hesperides saying 'Fool' or other insults as Zoe continued to slowly walk towards the great dragon. Some mouths were open and hissing, while others had closed.

'Is the dragon confused?' Percy muttered slightly. They had made it around the tree and started to head up the rocky trail to the mountain, however Percy felt a mood change in the dragon, a mood change that wanted to kill. Zoe had obviously done something wrong because as soon as he turned, Zoe was leaping in and out of snapping teeth.

'Go!' She screamed. Just as she yelled out, one of the heads managed to get in a snap, tripping Zoe over holding her side in pain.

Kayla with her quick reactions, quickly started to spin her black sword and projected it, cutting of three of Ladon's heads that were about to make Zoe their afternoon snack. Percy ran forward and dragged Zoe out of Ladon's reach.

After a few minutes of eating some Ambrosia, she managed to stand up and rub her side where she had been bitten. Part of her hunters outfit was sizzled away from the acid when Ladon had bit her, leaving her with half of her side exposed. Percy turned red and looked away while Zoe looked embarrassed and angry at the same time. She then composed herself with a sigh.

'At least you have manners and respect for female's privacy.' Zoe said as she covered her exposed side with bandages.

The four continued up the rocky pathway while loud thunder and music played from the very peak.

-Line Break-

As they were about to reach the top, Thalia and Zoe stopped at once leaving Percy and Kayla walking forward without knowing. Kayla noticed just a few seconds after and turned around making Percy stop as well. Thalia was examining the black granite, rock and marble while Zoe looked even more worried.

'This is Mount Othrys, but I don't remember it ever being here…' Thalia said as she frowned. Zoe felt grim as she pieced together the pieces of the puzzle in her head.

'If this is Mount Othrys, then we have a big problem. We're standing right in front of the Titan's fortress.' Zoe said. Everyone looked at her in shock.

'Wait a second, how is it here?' Percy asked turning back to the large black marble fortress. Zoe breathed out a shaky sigh.

'It moves that same way Olympus does, the two were once rival capitals back in the first Titan war, but Othrys was blasted to pieces…' Zoe said. They all looked at the rubble that was slowly lifting back into the air at snail pace. It was rebuilding itself.

'No kidding, this place is a mess.' Kayla mumbled. They all walked around examining the mess and broken marble and granite that was slowly trying to rebuild itself.

'I don't get it. Mount Othrys has always existed on the edge of humanity, like it barely exists anymore in mortal eyes… how is it here, on Mount Tamalpais in the middle of a large American city?' Thalia asked. Zoe's eyebrows furrowed in frustration. They were all asking so many questions before she could actually answer them. Before she could answer however, she started to cough violently, spitting out blood.

'_Ladon's poison… it's killing me from the inside out… I must hurry.'_ Zoe thought.

'The fact it's here on this Mountain is very bad. It's where Atlas holds-' Zoe was cut off by Kayla who figured out what exactly was happening.

'The sky…' Kayla finished. She turned to the group with panic clear in her eyes.

'Goddess in chains! Guys, Artemis is being forced to hold the sky!' Kayla said racing for the entrance. The group ran after Kayla in a hurry. The entrance was drawing closer by the step.

The doors slammed open as Kayla barged through with Zoe right on tail with Percy and Thalia behind her. Zoe saw Artemis under the sky and instantly raced to her side.

'Milady!' Zoe said with her eyes full of tears. Artemis managed a small smile.

'You must leave… it's a trap!' Artemis said under Atlas's burden. Out of the darkness boomed a voice that made everyone's blood chill, except for Kayla, her blood boiled with such anger she had never felt before, she felt like she was going to explode.

Atlas stepped forward out of the darkness with a smug look on his face, and next to him was Luke, who had his sword next to Annabeth's neck.

'Let her go…' Percy growled pulling out Riptide. Luke growled at Percy but his eyes softened when he looked at Thalia.

'Thalia…' he started before she summoned her spear. She looked at Luke with such hurt and hate in her eyes that all she wanted to do was kill him.

'I trusted you Luke!' Thalia screamed. Luke was taken aback by this outburst. Thalia started to cry as she shakily held her spear up, pointing towards him.

'We both did… why did you leave her Luke? I told you to protect her! Did I get turned into a tree for six years just for you to turn your back on us!?' Thalia screamed again, her voice breaking from the heavy heart break. Luke eyes widened as he started to smile.

'Don't you see Thalia? It's not my fault! It's theirs!' He said pointing towards Artemis.

'The entire of Olympus think they're so righteous and almighty that they can go around having sexual relations with mortals, and we are the result! Our lives are just pointless struggles for survival, we live only to die painfully by the hands of monsters or other gods. The gods do not care for us Thalia, why do you think Zeus turned you into a tree!? He's scared of you! Join us, and you can finally live a life that isn't looked down upon by the gods!' Luke said. Thalia actually seemed to consider this, however Percy stepped in.

'Give me a break Luke. You might be right about the gods, and in some ways I actually agree with you, but if you think the Titans could actually be any better!? Ha! You might as well kill yourself now.' Percy said taking Thalia's side, she turned and smiled at him. Luke's flashed with rage as he pressed harder with his sword against Annabeth's throat.

Meanwhile, Zoe was successfully cutting through the celestial chains that shackled Artemis to this burden that Atlas was destined to take back.

Atlas growled at Percy's little speech that managed to turn Thalia back to their side.

'Watch your tone little Demigod, you have no idea what kind of rule there was back before Olympus overthrew the Titans.' Atlas growled, Percy scoffed at this.

'Yeah, right, I totally believe you.' Percy said sarcastically. Atlas's eyes burned with hatred. His immortal code forbids him to fight mortals as it was beneath him to fight mortals, however if the mortal challenged the immortal…

Atlas turned to Artemis and Zoe with a mocking smile.

'How's my little traitor daughter doing these days in the little hunting group?' Atlas mocked. Artemis growled while Zoe just seethed with anger.

'How's my loving father been when he was trapped under the sky where he rightfully belongs?' Zoe retorted making Atlas angry.

'I'll make sure I kill you for your treachery, little daughter!' Atlas said. Percy leaped in front with Riptide and slashed Atlas's chest. He stumbled back holding his chest. Zoe jumped to Percy's side and drew her bow ready to fight her father. Kayla had also jumped next to her brother ready to fight Atlas as she drew her two swords ready to fight.

Thalia on the other hand, and engaged in a spear in sword combat against Luke who was getting pushed back quite a bit due to Thalia's lost temper. She was crackling with so much electricity it looked like she would fry this entire mountain.

Atlas looked up with a grin as he appeared in full battle armour. A large javelin appeared in his hand as he smiled smugly.

'You fool, you have now challenged an Immortal, and I now have full permission from the ancient laws to engage you in full combat! Prepare to die!' Atlas said racing forward.

Zoe jumped back, firing a barrage of arrows at Atlas's head while Kayla and Percy worked together to push back Atlas as much as they could. The co-ordination of the two siblings was flawless as they continued to push Atlas with the help of Zoe, but they knew they couldn't defeat Atlas, otherwise who was to hold up the sky?

Percy hacked and slashed with Riptide, cutting through Atlas's armour, drawing small amounts of golden ichor. Kayla continued to switch between long ranged attacks and melee attacks as it provided more area to cover and make Atlas more frustrated by the second.

However, as quickly as the battle started, Percy was knocked off his feet as he flew through the air and landed next to Artemis. Kayla felt rage boil up to a point where she just attacked head on, with full instinct to kill and slaughter, just like her shadow wanted.

Suddenly her blades burst into a green flame as she started to melt away the armour she slashed at on Atlas. She was still in control, and she was using the powers the shadow was using when her shadow took over during that Ares battle before Bianca died.

'Greek fire, encasing swords?' Atlas questioned in amazement. He grinned as he wiped away some golden ichor on his hands.

'Very interesting… it is no wonder my master wants you alive.' Atlas said smirking. Kayla seemed to stop as she looked confused. Atlas took this moment to attack as he rammed her with the butt of his javelin. She skidded backwards into a wall and fell to her knees.

Zoe's arrows were turning out to be nothing but annoying to Atlas as he thundered to where Kayla was on her knees. Atlas was about to attack again before he was rammed by a silver blur who pushed him off balance.

Artemis stood before Kayla, sliver hunting knifes in both hands with eyes glaring at Atlas with hatred and killer intent.

'Now the hunt begins.' She growled as she charged Atlas with such speed. The provided arrow barrage from Zoe proved to annoy Atlas while Artemis danced around Atlas, faster than anyone could see and proceeded to slice and dice him as golden ichor sprayed through the air.

Kayla dizzily looked towards the sky and saw her brother trapped under the burden. He looked like he was about he be squashed like an ant under a boot. However, his eyes screamed at her to fight, not to help him.

However, before Kayla could gather the strength to fight, she heard a voice in her head which pulled her into her inner world.

'**It's time to settle this…'** The shadow said. She lost consciousness and hit the floor.

-Line Break-

As she stepped into the flaming camp of camp half-blood, she looked forward to find the shadow staring back at her with a grim look. Kayla sighed, she had actually been thinking about this for a while now. She started to think about previous curses set upon the mortals by the gods, were they really curses? Or are they just perceived that way.

The shadow grumbled as it walked up to Kayla. She didn't tense or move at all, she was starting to understand what the shadow really wanted from her…

'**_You see all this fire? This is my burning hatred for you!'_**She remembered when it had said that to her, but what consistently kept eating at her was why did it hate her? What reason did it have to hold such hatred towards her? It was always right at the back of her mind, whenever she thought about the shadow inside of her.

'**Your close.'** The shadow said startling her. She looked up into its dark fiery eyes as they stared back into hers. They both stood in silence facing each other as the flames started to slowly burn out around her. She was close to the answer; all she had to do was say the words.

'So this is what it was all about… why? Why put me in the position to make me think otherwise?' She asked. The shadow continued to stare at her, void of emotion.

'**I wanted to teach you a lesson. You see most curses are placed unwillingly and through punishment. You however, took the curse of fate upon your own free will, so tell me; does that really make it a curse? Or does it make it a power?'** The shadow asked. This was the question that played her like a fool this whole time. The very meaning of a curse is placed as punishment, to make life harder and more miserable.

'_I hate using these weapons…'_ She remembered herself say, but why did she hate them? Was it because what happened at Camp for the first time? Or was it because she was afraid of what she actually had control over?

'**Power is an uncanny thing you know. Having semi-control over what happens in the future, you didn't think it would come so easy without consequences did you? No it was a different reason you picked up the swords of fate. You picked them up to defend yourself, therefore changing the meaning of your resolve. You fight to protect, to help people. That is the course of fate you have taken. You may not know, but you have already changed the course of history that second you even touched those swords.'** It explained. Kayla frowned.

'How, I don't understand how that works. If fate had a course to take, why did it lead me to pick up the swords when it already had a way to go without me changing the path of history?' She asked. The shadow seemed to scoff.

'**Even I do not know that answer to that question. The sisters of fate do not control fate, they guide it to its end. That is their job; however their symbol of power can change little things to their liking. The only thing that can change the past, present or future is the Primordial being of History. That is all I know, the fact that he or she sets what happens and the fates job is to guide it to the end. If you think about it, this whole world is like a book. You Kayla, have the pen to cross out the things you don't want to happen.'** The shadow explained.

**'However, there are consequences for things that you change.'** Kayla raised an eyebrow.

'What consequences?' The shadow scowled and walked towards her and stopped only a few meters away.

'**You will have to find out yourself, but first…'** Kayla sighed; she knew she would have to do this. To stop this shadow from taking control ever again…

She must first accept the curse and embrace it.

That was the whole problem, the reason for the shadow's hatred. She would consistently refuse to use her swords, only if she had to. She didn't like the power, she didn't like the way she was able to kill monsters, she didn't like the curse in general. She denied the power; she rejected it right from the moment she made it out of Alaska.

'What happens… if I accept you?' The shadow for the first time, actually smiled as Kayla looked back warily.

'**That is something, we will both find out.'**

Kayla took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She wasn't sure about this shadow yet. It had threatened to kill her and consume her being, but she could slightly tell when someone was lying. It was a guilty look in their eyes, along with the body language. It looked like the shadow just wanted to be accepted, curse or not.

Maybe that was what was wrong with curses, the fact that people don't embrace them and accept them into their being, accept that it's now part of them. Maybe that's why some curses are painful, and some aren't.

She wasn't really sure how to accept this curse, but when she dismissed all the bad feelings and regrets about the blades, the choices she had made, the fires around her were put out and the world around her was submerged in a blue ocean.

Her inner Camp Half-blood was now submerged under water.

'Did I do it?' She asked out loud. She turned to find the shadow being split into two. Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped as out of the shadow, a being of pure light appeared next to the shadow. The shadow, who was a doppelganger of herself, this sliver being was a Percy look-alike, except he wore white clothing, had white hair and silver eyes.

'Hello, Kayla. We are your weapons, this is Destiny, and I am Choice. The fates symbols of power.' Choice said as he approached her. She was dumbfounded. She turned to the shadow, which was now called "Destiny" and raised an eyebrow.

'I didn't know you had a name…' Destiny scoffed.

'Nether did I.' she said. The raspy sound in Destiny's voice had vanished. Kayla turned to Choice with confusion all over her face, this new development was crazy. She now had two things in her mind, the two spirits of her swords.

'Wait; hold on a second, where did you come from? I thought it was just her inside my head?' Kayla said pointing to Destiny. Choice laughed a little.

'I was locked away, because you made the choice to deny the curse you had, therefore locking away me, Choice. As for her, well she is Destiny so she stays no matter what, because Destiny is always bound to happen, you cannot escape destiny as the mortals say.' Choice said patting her on the shoulder.

'We are no longer your curse; we are now your companions throughout your life.' Choice said, Destiny chuckled darkly a little bit.

'Get used to having us around… otherwise you're going to end up with me hating you again and him being locked up again.' Destiny said.

Kayla's head was spinning, this all happened so fast it was way too confusing to keep up. She then was snapped out of her confusion when she remembered Percy was still stuck under the sky. However, Choice had already seen this and calmed her down.

'Relax; time passes a lot slower when you are conscious in here. You may return now, if you wish, the choice is yours.' He said. She nodded and concentrated hard as she felt her mind slowly slip back to reality. The sentence Choice had said was quite ironic.

-Line Break-

She was lying face down on the ground, Destiny and Choice still in her hands. She looked up slightly to see Artemis still fighting Atlas, while Zoe was lying down over by some rocks. She was twitching slightly in pain. Kayla turned her head again to see her brother, so red in the face he looked ready to pop.

She got to her feet and held her blades steady and attacked Atlas head on, aiding Artemis. The two girls were both like flies trying to be swatted by large hands. Atlas was a large man, but he couldn't catch the two girls.

Artemis's hunting knifes were annoying and Kayla's swords just stung badly with each slash. Atlas now looked like a cake which had been mutilated to the point where he was just covered in golden ichor.

Hatred burned in his eyes as he stared at both Artemis and Kayla. The goddess and the demigod looked at each other.

'_Help me push him back towards the sky, so we can trap him under there again and free your brother.'_ Artemis said in her mind. Kayla nodded as she started to spin her blades by the chains. Artemis sprinted forward acting as the bait, which Atlas feel for.

Kayla sprinted towards him as he lunged for Artemis. She slid under his legs, wrapping the chains around his legs and pulling them as hard as she could, making him fall over and land flat on his face.

Artemis ran around and kicked Atlas in the face dazing him while Kayla dragged him back to his punishment with her blade chains wrapped around his legs.

Percy saw this and as soon as Kayla had deposited Atlas right under Percy's feet, and once Artemis was done rearranging his face, Percy slid out from under the sky, as It feel on top of the Titan's back.

'No! Not again! This cannot be!' Atlas bellowed as the whole of Mount Othrys shook in the Titans rage.

Percy collapsed from sheer exhaustion as Kayla went to his aid. Artemis went straight to Zoe's side, all while Thalia was still in a tight battle with her ex-best friend Luke. Their fight was so full of energy and hatred for one another. Luke looked sick, tired and sad while Thalia had the same look in her eyes as her father when he was about to blast someone to Tartarus.

'You turned you back on Annabeth and me… I won't ever forgive you!' Thalia screamed as she kicked Luke out off a ledge they were fighting on. Annabeth cried in protest as Thalia watched Luke's body crash and snap as the rocks rearranged the bones in his body.

Percy had regained energy and walked to where Thalia was. Annabeth stood and cried on his shoulder has they looked at Luke's broken body on the rocks. Thalia remained stoic, though she was hurting so much inside, she refused to show any more emotion on the subject of Luke. He had hurt her and Annabeth for the last time.

They all gathered around Zoe, who was now having trouble breathing. Her time was running short.

Percy was furious with himself; it wasn't fair if Zoe died. Then again, it wasn't fair that Bianca died either… how would he explain it to Nico?

'We cannot stay here.' Artemis said as she summoned her chariot. Everyone hopped in without another word as they flew off the mountain. Below them, a horde of monsters from the cruise ship were screaming and bellowing threats to the demigods and the goddess, however, none of them were louder than the Titan who was now trapped back under the sky.

'This reminds me of Santa's sleigh…' Percy muttered. Artemis just chuckled softly and turned to Percy.

'Where do you think the legend came from?' Kayla and Thalia chuckled a little bit while Percy blushed.

The chariot settled down nicely in a grass field where they lay Zoe. It was midnight as of now, and the stars were out. Zoe looked deadly pale; she wasn't going last much longer.

'The stars milady…' Zoe said softly, lower than a whisper. Artemis smiled; she was on the verge of tears. Percy was also looked like he was about to cry.

'Can you not save her?' He asked softly. Artemis just turned to Percy.

'There is little I can do, if the fates will it so. The string is about to be cut. There is nothing I can do to stop her fate.' Artemis said sadly.

'Percy…' Zoe whispered. Percy went and keeled next to her.

'Anaklusmos… you were right… I am glad I met you. I am proud to call you a friend. I am happy you carry this sword. You are more of a hero then _he_ ever could have been.' Zoe said. Percy smiled, obviously knowing what she meant. There was silence as Percy started to cry.

'I can save her.' Kayla said emotionlessly. They all turned to her, even Zoe's eyes widened a little.

'It is not possible Kayla. The fates have willed it.' Artemis said turning back to Zoe. Kayla sighed.

'I carry the fates Symbol of power.' This got Artemis's attention. Her head slowly turned to Kayla, her silver eyes glowing with power.

'What do you mean?' Kayla gestured to her swords.

'I learnt about the absolute truth about what I carry, these swords have names, Pepromeno and Delectus.' Kayla said the names in Ancient Greek. Artemis's eyes widened even further.

'Destiny and Choice?' Artemis breathed out. Kayla nodded. Percy and Thalia just stared at Kayla like she was insane and Annabeth was trying to think of all the possible legends or myths that even related to a fates symbol of power. Kayla approached Zoe with a smile on her face.

'Zoe, I offer you a chance to live… will you take it?' Kayla said. Zoe nodded as Kayla approached readying Destiny and Choice.

'Zoe, my friend… you will not die here today.' Kayla said as she impaled Zoe in the stomach with both of her swords. Zoe didn't even flinch, there was no pain. As Kayla took the swords out, Zoe's body was engulfed in a bright green glow that changed the surroundings, and made everything grow and glow.

Just as soon as the light came, it disappeared. The color returned to Zoe's face as she sat up looking confused as ever. Her hands went all over her body to see if she was hurt. She was completely healed. Ladon's poison was gone and the large blow her father dealt was nowhere to been seen or felt.

She looked at Kayla and blinked a few times.

'You healed me!' Zoe exclaimed. Kayla shook her head making Zoe even more confused.

'I denied your fate. The wounds that fate predicted have been extinguished. You didn't die today, and the last line of the Prophecy has been denied.' Kayla said. Before Zoe managed to thank Kayla, Kayla blacked out as a series of events passed through her mind. They played through her mind like a quick slideshow.

She was suddenly on Olympus; Artemis had offered Thalia the lieutenant position in the hunters to replace Zoe. Zoe had actually died and been sent to the stars by Artemis. Now that she had saved Zoe from her fate, she had to make Thalia become a hunter otherwise she would be the prophecy child when fate has determined her not to be.

Just as the events came, they passed as Kayla got to her feet again, and looked around in shock.

What she had just saw, was what was supposed to have happened if Zoe where do die.

Kayla turned to Thalia and then to Artemis.

'Artemis, you must make Thalia a hunter.' This caught the whole group off guard.

'Wha-what why do I need to be a hunter?' Thalia protested. Kayla turned to Thalia and started to explain. Kayla fumbled over her words, trying to make sense of what had just happened to her. Was this what Destiny meant by consequences?

'I just saw what was to happen if Zoe was to die. Thalia takes her position as lieutenant of the hunters. Whatever happens now, Thalia, you must not turn sixteen tomorrow.' Kayla said. There was silence as Kayla looked around the group. Zoe was silent, Artemis was in deep thought, Percy was confused and Thalia looked ready to faint.

'What if I refuse?' Thalia asked Kayla. Kayla paled; she really didn't want to tell Thalia this but it had to happen. Could she really say what she had to say? It would destroy her friendship with Thalia if she ever said it.

'…' She as she dropped her head, the message was obvious what Kayla was getting at. Thalia's mouth dropped. Her face turned into a look of anger and betrayal. However before she could attack Kayla, Percy jumped in and stopped the conflict.

'Whoa, whoa, let's just take it easy here. No one is killing anyone!' Percy said holding his hands up in front of Thalia.

'Thalia please, you have to do this. It's the way fate has predicted it to go, since I picked up their symbols of power, I have to put fate back on the right track otherwise Olympus is going to be destroyed by the Titans in the upcoming war.' Kayla pleaded. Zoe stepped up Thalia.

'Thalia, I am sorry about what I said to you all those years ago, and at the start of this quest…' Zoe said her eyes drifting towards Percy.

'You said that there are some good men in the world, at the time I didn't believe that, but now I see that maybe there are some decent men left in existence, and one of them is standing right here.' Zoe said. Thalia looked at Zoe disbelievingly as Percy looked at Zoe and blushed. Artemis gave Zoe a little warning look, at Zoe which she read to be, "Don't get to close".

'Anyway, I just really wanted to say sorry, and I would love to be sisters with you if you would join milady and me in the hunt.' Thalia seemed to consider. Thalia looked back at Kayla and now realized that Kayla was just trying to keep the world being destroyed. Thalia knew deep down that she wouldn't be the right person for the prophecy; she would make the wrong decision.

'I will join the hunt, I will not turn sixteen tomorrow.' Thalia stated finally. Zoe smiled, along with Artemis and Kayla. Percy was happy, but annoyed that it was now going to be him or his sister to be the prophecy child.

Thalia recited the hunters vow to Artemis, which she gladly accepted. Thalia was now an official member of the hunt. Thalia walked up to Kayla and gave her a hug.

'I'm sorry I almost blasted you. I know you were only trying to stop the world from being destroyed. I know that you or Kelp head here can make a better decision than I ever could.' Thalia said smiling. It was Zoe's turn to thank Kayla now.

'Kayla, I don't know what to say… saving me from my fate, thanks I guess?' Zoe said. Kayla just laughed. Annabeth was just so confused she couldn't find the words to speak. Being the child of wisdom, sense and knowledge came naturally, but what she had just witnessed made absolutely no sense.

'I'll think of something you can repay with one day.' Kayla said smiling. Artemis coughed breaking up the little group happiness.

'I am grateful for you saving Zoe from her undeserving fate. However, the meeting on Olympus begins very shortly, I must being leaving. I will see you on Olympus.' Artemis said before vanishing in a silver flash.

Percy let out a large whistle and in a few moments, a large black Pegasus landed next to him with another white Pegasus.

'_Heya boss! Oh, it's boss's sister to! You guys need a ride?'_ Blackjack said in both Percy and Kayla's mind. Percy smiled and patted Blackjack.

'We need to get to Olympus, can you get us there?' Percy asked.

'_Ha! No problem boss! Get on and you'll be there in a jiffy!' _Blackjack said. Percy and Kayla hopped on Blackjack while Zoe, Thalia and a very silent Annabeth hopped on the other Pegasus. Thalia shut her eyes tightly the whole trip to Olympus.

The ride to the Empire State Building was quite a short ride considering Blackjack was carrying two people and the other was carrying three. Kayla and Percy felt nervous as they drew closer to Zeus's domain. Flying in general was forbidden to children other than Zeus, but being children of Poseidon, flying straight into Zeus's domain? It was like saying "Blast me now please!"

The two Pegasus dropped the five off at the doors of Olympus. The place was just like Othrys, except larger and far more powerful. Standing there in front of the doors, you could feel the power just radiating off this place like a large godly aura.

As Percy pushed open the doors they all walked into the middle of the room, in front of the thirteen Olympians that all sat in their council thrones. Zeus and Hera were at the top. Closer to Zeus was Poseidon but no Hades. Hades was instead stuck in a guest throne that sat down near Dionysus.

Zeus eyed Kayla dangerously which made her feel very uncomfortable. The King of the gods, staring straight at you, was studying you, deciding whether or not to kill you on the spot. Yeah, it made her nervous as crazy.

'Another child of the Sea… Why was I not informed?" Zeus boomed over the council room silencing all the whispering. Zeus's gaze went to Hermes first who just shrugged.

'I happen to like Percy, and since I found out he had a sister, I decided for the sake of him and her well-being, not to tell you. Knowing you, you would have blasted her on the spot.' Hermes said causally as he went back to checking his emails and text messages. Zeus grumbled and sat back in his throne.

'We as a Council must decide what to do with these Demigods. They are dangerous and may or may not cause the downfall of Olympus.' Athena stated. Annabeth wanted to protest but was silenced by her mother's stare. Poseidon rose from his throne, his trident in hand.

'I say kill the kids, they are a threat, we Olympians have to deal with threats the old fashioned way.' Ares grinned.

'We are not blasting my son, or my daughter!' Poseidon bellowed over the room. Zeus just grumbled more from his throne.

'Nor my daughter, she has done well.' He said earning a casual distasteful stare from Hera. Athena sighed. Thalia smiled and blushed. It wasn't often you get a complement from a major god, especially from the big three, and even more rare from Zeus of all gods.

'I was not passing judgement. I was pointing out the risk, they are dangerous I will say, but the decision is that of the council.' Athena said sitting back down in her throne. Artemis scoffed as she jumped down from her throne and walked to Zoe and Thalia's side.

'I do not care what the word of the council is! I will have them rewarded for their efforts. They are heroes in the eyes of demigods and mortals. How are we any better than the Titans if we kill off the ones who aid us right after we are done with them? If this is Olympian justice, I will have none of it!' Artemis stated coldly. Some of the gods in the room admired her courage while some other gods simply rolled their eyes as if this wasn't the first time Artemis and spoke out like this.

'Calm down sis, you need to lighten up.' Artemis growled as she shot an arrow that landed right next to Apollo's head. However he didn't even flinch. Again, probably not the first time it's happened.

'Do not call me _sis_, Apollo.' She said coldly. Artemis turned back to find Ares jumping down from his throne as well.

'Now look here, these three are dangerous! Can you not see? The minute Kronos gets his hands on either one of them; he will turn them against us! It's easier to eliminate them now while we have the chance!' Ares said drawing a sword. Poseidon once again rose from his throne. A torrent of sea water exploded around Ares, grabbed him and sat him back down in his throne.

'Stay!' Poseidon commanded as Ares tried to get down again. Poseidon looked around the room angrily.

'They are worthy heroes are they not!? If they turn against Olympus then we will deal with it then, but for now, they remain loyal to us! I will not have them destroyed just for something they might do!' Poseidon said angrily.

'Sit down brother.' Zeus said calmly. In truth, Zeus was bored, this meeting was a bore. Thalia had done well and that was all he cared about. What the fates were of his brothers children were not his concern.

'Thalia will never make that decision. She has chosen to become an eternal maiden, a member of the hunt!' Artemis said. This got Zeus's attention as he stood up with anger building in his eyes.

'Without my consent!? Artemis, what is the meaning of this?' Zeus said rising from his throne. Artemis looked at her father coldly.

'It was never your decision, it was hers to make alone, and she made it. It's done, I have accepted, there is no releasing her from it now. She wishes not to turn sixteen, and so it shall be done.' Artemis said. Thalia smiled at Artemis, grateful for defending her against her own father. Zeus slowly sat back down; starting to get use to the fact his daughter was now in the hunt. It didn't bother him much, just the fact he wasn't aware of it.

'However, these two still remain a risk.' Athena said pointing to Kayla and Percy.

'Mom!' Annabeth protested but was silenced once again by her mother's cold stare.

'I agree, we should deal with these two now!' Ares said. However, before Poseidon could respond, Kayla did it for him.

'Oh shut up! You're just sour and looking for a reason to kill us both because my brother and I both kicked your ass when we fought against you!' Kayla said to Ares. A few of the gods laughed as well as Poseidon, Ares getting beaten by not only Percy but his sister to? That's embarrassing.

Ares eyes burnt with hatred as his hand itched for his two blood swords. He wanted to kill that brat so bad, taunting him and pushing him. It was ridiculous as to how she was still alive anyway. Ares growled and sunk back into his throne. He remembered that dammed shadow that took over her during his fight. Maybe they didn't have to kill her; maybe she'll kill everyone else with her own problem.

Zeus grumbled as he stood up.

'Alright, all in favor for not, blasting my daughter, or my brothers children to bits?' He said raising his hand. A few tentative hands went up. The only three who had actually voted for the death was Dionysus, Ares and Athena.

'The majority of the vote wins, the children will be kept alive… for now. Since there is no execution, let the party begin!' Zeus said as the music started up.

-Line Break-

The party last more or less of two hours before most of the male gods, major or minor were piss drunk on some of Dionysus's beverages. The young demigods avoided most of the party, due to the fact that they had lost Bianca and partying after a quest that someone had just died in seemed wrong.

After a while, when the party died down, Percy, Kayla, Annabeth and Grover made their way via Pegasus back to camp half-blood. The tension rolling off Percy as to how he was going to tell Nico that his sister died even after Percy had promised to protect her with his life.

As they group arrived on the edge of the camps borders, Nico was the first person they saw who came running up to Percy, his eyes darting around trying to find his sister. He looked really panicked.

'Where's Bianca?' He asked innocently. Percy turned to Kayla and Annabeth and sighed, turning back to Nico and placing his hands on his shoulders.

'Nico, I… She gave up her life to save all of us… I tried to stop her but she wouldn't listen.' Percy said but Nico pulled away, tears streaming out of his eyes. He looked back into Percy's with nothing but hatred and angry for the son of Poseidon.

'I knew it! You lied to me! You told me you would protect her, but you didn't! I knew it the moment I felt her life slip from this world!' Nico yelled at Percy. Percy was more shocked than sympathetic. Annabeth's eyes widened further than she ever had before, the realization hitting her before she could even process it. However, before she could question it, hissing came out of the bush behind them as the Skeleton warriors came at the group growling.

Kayla drew Destiny and Choice as Anaklusmos sprung to life in Percy's hand, a glowing blue light radiating around the blade.

'Nico get back!' Percy said as he stood in front the mystery child protectively. Nico started to shake violently, a black smoky aura starting to form around him.

'You brought them here to kill me like you killed her! I won't let you take me! GO AWAY!' Nico screamed at the top of his voice. The Skeletons stood as the ground split open beneath them as they fell into the fiery pits of the underworld.

Nico, before anyone could even question what he had just did, turned and ran as fast as he could into the forest and out of the camps protection.

'Quick, we need to catch him!' Kayla said sprinting after him. Percy followed in suit as well as Annabeth and a confused Grover.

After hours of searching the grounds and the forest that surrounded the camp there was absolutely no sign of Nico. Percy shuddered with anger. He was responsible for all this, letting Bianca die, and now he had let Nico get away. That kid was probably going to get himself killed, but Percy would not let that happen, no he would find Nico and set things straight.

Percy reached into his pocket and pulled out the statue that had cost Bianca her life. The statue of the lord of the underworld, god of the dead. Hades.

'Percy.' Annabeth said walking up to him. 'We have to tell Chiron, he's a son of Hades! Don't you know what this means!? Hades broke the vow to!' Annabeth exclaimed. Percy shook his head as he looked back at Annabeth.

'Yeah, Bianca and Nico are the son and daughter of Hades, but they have been out of commission for a very long time. They had stayed at the Lotus Casino for around a few months. They were born _before_ the oath was made Annabeth.' Percy said as he turned to Kayla and Grover who had just arrived after searching another part of the camps boundaries.

'He's gone, I can't even track him! It's like he melted into the shadows or something!' Grover exclaimed kicking a pebble with one of his hooves. Kayla shifted uncomfortably.

'He is the son of Hades. Hades's domain does include shadows and darkness. Maybe he can turn invisible at night time or something.' Kayla suggested. Percy just sighed.

'Look, no matter what happens now, no one can know Nico is a son of Hades. If the gods realize this then the Titans will find out and that will make Nico a walking target for monsters. We have to find him no matter what happens.' Percy said. The group nodded and decided to call it a night and head back to camp.

It had been a hard few weeks for them. They found Bianca and Nico, Artemis then got capture. The quest went west, only to have Bianca lost after she sacrificed herself against the automation. Artemis had taken the sky from Annabeth, which put the goddess in chains. Zoe was reunited with her vile sisters who had banished her after she helped Hercules. Zoe was about to die but Kayla had denied her fate, saving her but then forcing Thalia had join the hunters to correct the course of fate, and then having the gods vote on whether or not to kill them. They just had to face it, life as a demigod is hard, unforgiving and unfair and very short.

Everyone could agree that the last few weeks had been both emotional and physically straining, and they all wished it would end right then and there, however fate just does not like demigods that have already done enough for the world.

Percy, Kayla, Annabeth and Grover did all they could to find trails that Nico would have left behind. However they couldn't find a single trace, it was just as if Kayla's suggestion was actually true, if Nico could actually manipulate the darkness and shadows around them. One thing that really scared the group was if Nico actually turned on them, he would be a very dangerous enemy to fight.

Young kid or not, he was a child of the big three, a son of Hades.

-Line Break-

A/N: And that's it for Titan's Curse! I'm actually quite **_surprised_** (Yes ha ha, its my name, big deal) That the first part of my story actually is 50,000 + Words on the first part! That's an achievement for me. Next chapter we will be starting **The Battle of the Labyrinth** so don't worry.

Just a small vote, I am interest to see what your opinions are on whether or not I should go into the Hero's of Olympus series, because I definitively plan to go to TLO and I am also aiming for around or close to 200k word count.

Anyway, yes I saved Zoe, why do you think I put her as one of the main characters on the story information? I also hinted that I would save her in one of my Author's notes awhile back so yeah. And Yes, Kayla did save her, (Uhhhh! Self-insert much? not another shitty story where the OC is over powered) Let me stop you there because that's not true. Later on in the next chapters, Percy and the others will be getting some pretty cool boosts as well!

Trust me, I try my best to balance because I myself, hate over-powered character stories.

Anyway, thanks to all those follows, favs and reviews, the more there is, the better the chapters get, and the faster updates will come. (I hope :) )

And I'll see you guys next chapter :)!


	7. Chapter Six

Chapter Six: Captured

It had been five months since the quest to save Artemis. Kayla had spent her time at camp with her brother Percy, to get to know him more and his friends Annabeth and Grover. Thalia had joined the hunters and was probably off somewhere else with Zoe and Artemis. Since Kayla had rescued Zoe and successfully denied her fate, Thalia was promoted to co-lieutenant of the hunters so she and Zoe got a lot of talking and bonding time together.

Kayla and Percy also had gotten in a lot of training time together, where they would fight and spar for hours on end. The ending winner was mostly Percy, with the superior swordsman skills, but Kayla had also beaten Percy a couple of times as well since she learnt how to set her blades ablaze with Greek fire. Every time she did that, she beat Percy, so he banned the use of fire blades to even the scales.

However, with the months going by, it was almost time for summer break and Percy and Kayla were sent home back to New York to live with Sally. Unfortunately, Sally had convinced her future husband, Paul Blofis, who just happened to be a headmaster at Goode High School to let Kayla attend the school. However she did have trouble getting him to take Percy, due to his record of being kicked out of every school he went to.

Today was the brother and sister of the sea's big day as it was Orientation day, where all you had to do was go sit down in the gym and listen to some of the older students drone on about how good the school is… and how great the teachers are and what opportunity's become available and blah, blah, blah. This stuff was all irrelevant to the demigods as they lived such short lives. Most are even lucky to make it passed eighteen when they are always going on quests and other things that put them in mortal danger.

As Sally drove the car up to the front of the school, Kayla felt Percy tense as he looked out the window. Kayla followed his eyes as she saw a girl with red frizzy hair and freckles as she was being greeted by Paul himself.

'Is there a side entrance to this school?' Percy asked suddenly. Kayla snorted.

'You battle monsters, you take the sky on your shoulders, but you can't even walk through the front entrance of a school.' Kayla chuckled. Percy just scowled and ignored her. Ever since they had gotten to know each other more, they became more like brother and sister who hated and loved each other in a sibling way.

'Whatever.' Percy grumbled as he got out of the car and walking around the side of the school. Sally frowned, feeling disappointed. Kayla smiled and reassured her.

'Don't worry mom, I think he's just trying to avoid any possibility of getting kicked out again. I'll look after him, I promise.' Kayla said as she gave Sally a hug and jumped out.

'Oh, don't forget Annabeth is taking you two to the movies after school alright?' Sally called out as Kayla walked towards the front entrance. Kayla waved Sally off, signalling that she got the message. Sally smiled and drove off, back to her mortal home.

Kayla turned back to the school and sighed, maybe it would be better than schooling in her father's palace. Mortal high school can't be that bad right?

As Kayla walked through the hallways, she already regretted the decision she had made of accepting the offer her mom gave her. All the older kids where giving her stares as if she were some freak. Some of the younger students especially the boys all gathered in their groups and started to talk about Hades know what.

Kayla blushed heavily and continued her way down the hallway to try and find the stupid orientation room so she could get this day over and done with.

When she found the room she was looking for, it was a large room with lots of seats with a wooden alter that the headmaster, Paul Blofis and a couple of other short sighted mortals were standing behind talking. There were a couple of kids already seated so she just silently sat down by herself waiting for Percy to arrive.

Fifteen minutes later Percy came in with that red haired girl who she had seen outside the school. Percy looked frustrated while the girl just looked at him as if his body and eyes answered all of her hidden questions. Kayla rolled her eyes and waved her brother over to where she was.

'Where have you been? You're late.' Kayla scolded. Percy scoffed.

'I was busy doing boy things, trying to avoid cheerleaders who invade your personal space.' Percy said sighing as he sat down next to her. Kayla chuckled a little bit.

'Player…' She muttered under her breath. Percy turned to her and raised an eyebrow.

'What did you just say?' He asked in a confused manner. Kayla made a "Mouth's zipped" hand gesture as she pointed to the headmaster stand as the orientation had just begun.

Kayla quickly lost focus and put her iPod into her ears to drone out the useless and pointless waffling on what these cheerleaders were saying. After about another fifteen minutes, she felt Percy poke her side. She turned and looked at him. His face was pale white as the girl next to him was just as shocked.

'What's up?' She asked pulling her ear buds out of her ears. Percy shushed her and mouthed monster and pointed to the cheerleader that was taking. Kayla seemed confused as she turned back to Percy who was already out of his seat and walking away with the other girl. Kayla quickly got up and pushed her way through other mortal kids who spouted hurtful one-liners as she pushed through them.

She pushed her way through the doors and into an empty corridor. She lost Percy.

'_Where the hell did he go?'_ Kayla thought. She raced down one of the corridors and turned a corner to see Percy being dragged by the mortal girl with red hair.

'Percy!' Kayla said running towards him, only to be cut off by two cheerleaders who stood in her way. Percy stopped and turned, drawing Anaklusmos, but his eyes widened as he saw what was about to happen. Behind her, another cheerleader holding a crowbar was already in motion of swinging at his sister's head.

'Kayla, watch out!' Percy screamed, but it was too late. Her world went black as she crumbled to the ground unmoving. Percy seethed with anger as a slight wind began to pick up around his body, his eyes were glowing a faint bluish green. The blond cheerleader, who had previously been speaking in the assembly, was now standing in front of the two cheerleaders and the cheerleader who had knocked Kayla out. She quickly turned to the three disguised monsters.

'Get her out of here you fools! Our master will not be please if we fail this mission!' She hissed. The three cheerleader's eyes widened as they resumed their true forms as Empousai. They were about to teleport, however Percy wasn't about to let that happen. He rushed forward, his anger giving him all the energy he needed to dispose of these monster scums. He cut through two of the cheerleaders who had his hands on his sister, as they exploded into dust.

The Empousai he had passed had recovered from her shock and lunged forward after the demigod pinning him on the ground.

'Go, now!' She screamed as the last Empousai put her hands on Kayla and disappeared in a flame, setting the surroundings on fire.

Percy rumbled with anger, power filling him, he couldn't believe he had just lost his sister to the titan lords servants. It was a planned ambush. The winds around Percy picked up into a mini tornado as he pushed the leading Empousai. He was about to impale her in the most painful way possible, but she managed to escape in a burst of flames, giving him a mocking smile.

Percy stood in the middle of a burning high school corridor, facing a shocked Rachel Elizabeth Dare. He glared at her, hatred filling his eyes, but then he tried his best to calm down, and only stormed off without her, leaving her in shock as the building turned to ashes around her.

Percy exited the building just as the fire department had arrived. He walked a few blocks to find the person he loved standing there with a scowl on her face. However, she was met with a furious Percy who wasn't going to take any crap from anyone.

Percy completely ignored her as he walked passed her. Her face turned from a scowl to downright confusion as he pushed passed her, not even giving her the recognition she was even there.

'What- Percy, where are you going!?' Annabeth called out as he walked passed her. He turned, his face glowing in a bluish green power that made her quite scared and worried for the person she had strong feelings for.

'I am going to find Kronos, and I am going to make him wish he never left Tartarus! No, in fact I am going to make him beg and scream for that place!" Percy screamed at her. Annabeth pulled back at the amount of power that was circling around Percy. The winds were violent as they whipped around him in a vicious manner. Annabeth had a feeling she knew what happened, since there was no sign of his sister.

'_Oh Hades no… Kronos didn't…' _Annabeth pleaded, but Percy's emotion and desire to suddenly want Kronos dead made it very clear that some monsters had ambushed them and captured Kayla. Annabeth put her hands to her face. First it was her, and now his sister… Percy didn't need this.

'Percy, it's going to be fine, we will find her. We will head back to camp, tell Chiron and sort something out. I promise we will get her back.' Annabeth said approaching Percy slowly. Slowly but surely, the winds calmed down as the power radiating around Percy had stopped, allowing her to get close enough to pull him into a hug.

She pulled out to see Percy trying but failing to hold back tears.

'Let's head back to camp. We need to figure out how to get Kayla back to us.' Percy nodded while Annabeth called a taxi. In the next few minutes, they were on the road back to camp, without Kayla.

-Line Break-

As soon as Annabeth and Percy made it back to camp, Percy took off back to his cabin. Annabeth decided not to talk about it, he needed the space. She took off to the big house to tell Chiron what happened while Percy made a call to the next person who would want to rip Kronos to shreds.

He approached a water fountain that sat at the end of his cabin. He fished a Drachma out of his pocket and flipped it into the fountain.

'Oh, Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow, please show me Poseidon, god and lord of the Sea.' Percy spoke. A faint blurry image shimmered and adjusted to show Poseidon sitting on his throne in his undersea palace, reading through some scrolls.

'Dad.' Percy said getting his father's attention. He looked up and smiled to see Percy, but frowned when he saw the look on his sons face.

'Hello Percy, what seems to be the problem? You look angry.' He asked. Percy took a deep breath, he had a feeling he knew how his father would react.

'Kayla and I attended school today.' Percy started. Poseidon smiled.

'How was it?' Percy scowled.

'We were ambushed by monsters. They have Kayla; she's mostly likely a captive of Kronos by now.' Percy said as he slightly closed his eyes. Poseidon's trident appeared in his hand as the sea took a violent turn for the worst.

'That scum titan has done what!?' He bellowed in his godly voice, shaking the waves across the world. Poseidon was on the verge of releasing his true form he was so angry. He managed to calm himself enough to stop Percy from turning to ashes.

'When I get my hands on him… he's going to wish he never stepped foot in this world again!' He bellowed once more. He turned to Percy, his eyes glowing green with power.

'Thank you for bringing this to my attention my son. I will request an emergency council meeting on Olympus right away. Kayla is too important to lose, and from what I hear, most of the gods including Artemis are fond of her. Do not worry Percy; I will not rest until she is found!' He stated as he swiped his trident through the message.

Without another word, Percy went straight to bed and collapsed. He had lost enough people; he just couldn't believe he had lost his sister now as well.

-Line Break-

Kayla slowly opened her eyes, to a blinding bright light. She tried to shield her eyes but found she had been chained to a wall. Her hands chained behind her back and her ankles shackled. She looked around and examined her surroundings. There was no one in the empty room except her, and a table with a box of bloody tools on it. Her eyes widened as she examined her body. Her wrists were painfully raw as she saw that they had tried to separate her from her swords. Thankfully they hadn't cut her hands off.

She moaned as she tried to move, long black strands of hair fell over her face as she tried to move, the chains grinded on the ground and against each other as she tried to pull and get out. It was useless; she had no strength to get out of her prison. As she continued to look around, she started to recognize the place, she had been here last winter, to rescue Artemis.

'Mount Othrys… Why am I here?' She spoke hazily to herself. She tried pulling the chains again, but failed. She was sitting down against a wall with no light coming from anywhere, it was complete darkness.

Finally the door opened and a few shadows walked in. The first one Kayla recognized as Luke, and the others where monsters, or his body guards. Kayla stared at Luke with disbelief in her eyes. She had watched Thalia boot him off the side of a mountain and watch him fall at least four stories to his death. How was he here now, and even if he did survive that, why was he not in a full body cast?

'How in the Hades did you survive that fall?' Kayla tried to yell but only ended up being louder than a small whisper. Her throat was dry and sore. She swallowed large chunks of blood and felt like gagging as it slipped down the back of her throat.

Luke approached her with an annoyed look on his face as he bent down and stared her in the face. She glared back with all the hate she could but couldn't overcome his powerful stare.

'Leave us.' Luke stated as the monsters exited the room hastily. Luke continued to stare at her as she started to feel annoyed as well.

'You're here because our lord has wished it to be. You are here against your will, for us to use you against your brother. We've seen how you two get along, and Kronos saw how much it would tear either of you apart if you two were separated forcefully.' Luke said. Kayla scowled.

'You sounded all forgiving and nice when you were talking to Thalia and Annabeth. What changed? Was it the fall finally knocking some sense into that stupid head of yours that they are actually on our side and not yours?' Kayla spat. Luke's eyes burned as his hand reached out and grabbed her throat and applied pressure, causing her to choke.

'How dare you even speak of them you worthless sea spawn! They are my best friends! I would never hurt them. Do you even know our back story? No! You have no idea why I turned to the Titans. You just follow the Olympians orders like gods-dammed sheep! You're all pawns in their little game!' Luke said standing up and pacing, expressing his emotions. Kayla chuckled causing Luke to turn to her looking more pissed than ever.

'Oh yeah?' Kayla said glaring at Luke with a grin. 'What makes you think you're not a pawn of the Titans? Look at yourself, Kronos sees you as an asset, but as soon as he has achieved his goal, he will toss you aside like garbage, I'll guarantee you that.' Luke growled but then softened which surprised Kayla.

'I know.' He said sadly as he turned his back on her. Kayla seemed shocked at his sudden change of emotion.

'But what else can I do? All I want is revenge on those worthless Olympians! They just go around having children and leaving them in the worst possible situations, the blackest of holes for us to climb out of ourselves. Don't you see? Our lives are nothing but fighting and surviving! If the Olympians really cared about us, they would protect us! Like real parents do and would!' Luke argued. Kayla started to feel really bad for him. Kayla didn't say anything as Luke continued.

'That's why I decided to join the Titans, I know they are terrible, probably even worse than the Olympians, but it's the only way to exercise my revenge. The gods need to learn that it's wrong to leave us behind, to turn their backs on us… Even if I did want to turn back now, I'm in too deep. I'm in something you can never back out of now.' He finished. Kayla frowned, he didn't seem too, he sounded like a troubled Demigod who was forced to make choices and decisions he didn't want to make.

'It doesn't have to be like this you know…' Kayla said, Luke turned to her and looked at her sadly.

'I'm sorry, I wish I could turn back now, but I've already given my body as a vessel to Kronos. I've taken the curse of Achilles to ready myself for him. It's too late.' Luke said. Kayla felt so guilty. Did the gods really do this to their children? This wasn't how she was raised by her father. Her father cared for her, and did everything possible to keep her safe, but Luke, whoever godly parent he had must be an absolute bastard.

'You have a family! Annabeth still believes you can change, Thalia has joined the hunters but I bet she still thinks about you! I think your misjudged and misunderstood, you can let me go and we can get out of here, back to camp, back home to people who care about us! I'm sure if you sort things out with Percy, you two can be great friends!' Kayla said trying to persuade Luke. Luke turned to her with tears streaming from his eyes.

'Heh, I'm sorry your even here. You seem like a great person. I'm glad Annabeth and Thalia met you and Percy. Percy is a hell of a guy, I wish I knew him better, and I wish he wasn't my enemy. Unfortunately fate just never makes things easy for us does it?' Luke said bending over and taking something of his pockets and slipping it into Kayla's jean pocket.

'What's this?' Kayla said looking at him in confusion. He just smiled, trying to hold back more tears. It was ripping him apart from the inside having to do this, it was a choice he wish he's never had to make. He just wished Thalia and Annabeth could be with him again, just one last time.

'It's a dairy… sort of; I want Annabeth and Thalia to have it. I want them to know the true reasons I joined the other side, maybe they'll forgive me, maybe they won't but, I want them to have it anyway.' Luke said walking towards the doorway. Kayla stared at the boy in disbelief.

'I will come back to you the day before I give myself to Kronos. I'll set you free, so you can get away, back to the family who cares for you.' Luke said unlocking the door. Kayla started to cry as she desperately tried to think of a way to stop Luke from doing it.

'I denied Zoe's fate! I will save your from yours!' Kayla called through her tearing eyes, as Luke walked out the door. He turned back and gave her a sympathetic smile but shook his head as he shut the door, closing her back into darkness.

-Line Break-

Zoe and Thalia waited patiently for Artemis to arrive back from the emergency council meeting called by Poseidon to discuss the kidnapping of one of their best friends, Kayla, Percy's sister. Zoe and Thalia waited by storming into some forests and brutally murdering some wild monsters and some passing male hunters to pass the time and let off some of the anger and rage towards Kronos for even thinking about touching Kayla.

Thalia approached Zoe who was busy pulling an arrow out of a mortal male's manhood in the most painful way possible. Thalia put a hand on her shoulder as Zoe turned slowly and acknowledged that it was enough.

'Lady Artemis is back in camp?' Zoe questioned, Thalia nodded her head as the two Lieutenants ran back to camp with the speed that matched even the fastest animals. As the two arrived in camp, they were instantly summoned to the goddess's tent that was also very angry about the kidnapping of the person who saved Artemis's best friends life, so angry to say that she was having trouble keeping her godly aura down to a normal demigod level.

Thalia and Zoe entered the tent to see Artemis sitting quietly in her throne with a stoic face. She looked at her two best hunters, two excellent fighters and thought about what Poseidon wanted her to do. She didn't want to do it, but the look he gave her was a look she could not refuse. It wasn't a commanding look; it was look of desperation and sadness. She looked at Thalia and Zoe and sighed.

I am going to be sending you two to Camp Half-blood. No doubt sooner or later Kayla's brother Perseus Jackson will be setting out on his own to find his sister no matter what Chiron says. I want you two to aid him no matter the cost. I understand Kayla is important to you both and that is why I am sending you two.' Artemis said. Zoe turned pale, she hated that camp more than anything in the entire world, almost as much as that scum Hercules, but she owed Kayla her life and she was ready do to whatever it takes to save her. Thalia didn't hate camp but she didn't like it either, she was passive but was happy she was going to see Percy, Annabeth and Goat boy again.

'Understood milady.' They both said in unison. Artemis smiled.

'You two will set out at sunset tonight. Get the things you need and your sisters and I will see you off. Dismissed.' Artemis said as the two girls bowed and left the tent. As they left the tent, Zoe turned to Thalia with a hard determined look on her face.

'We will find her, and I won't rest until I find her. She saved me from my fate; I will help save her from her captors.' Zoe stated as she turned and walked off towards her tent. Thalia stood in the same spot wondering how Kayla was doing, and how her brother like friend Percy was holding up. She thought it must have been tough, she had lost Jason from her side when they were still kids… it still hurt her to this very day, she wondered every night if he was alive or if he was dead.

Without another word, Thalia turned and walked towards her own tent and gathered her things. She told herself she was going to do everything in her power to save Kayla and return her to Percy. At least they should get a chance she and Jason never got to have.

In the next few hours, Zoe and Thalia set off back to camp half-blood as they had been instructed by Artemis herself to aid in the search for Kayla, if there was going to be one. In other words, stick to Percy like glue and make sure he doesn't do anything stupid. That was what Thalia took the words to mean. Zoe thought the words meant, find Kayla and slaughter anything that stopped them from reaching her.

As Zoe and Thalia reached New York, Thalia had something on her mind that was bugging her ever since Zoe had said it back on their quest to save Artemis.

'Hey Zoe, I remember you said something about Kayla joining the hunt… did you really mean that?' Thalia asked as they pulled a taxi. Zoe frowned as she paid the mortal the money and told them where to drop them off.

'At the time I was eager to gain such an asset to the hunt. She was brave; she looked forward with no remorse. The look in her eyes even screamed "huntress" to me. She had the look of a warrior, but now that I think about it, she still had that curse that was consistently on her mind. Maybe she was worried she was going to die, or she would lose control and kill us. To actually answer your question, I would like her to join the hunt, and it's even better with you now as well. I could actually see the three of us going on adventures and other things like that with Lady Artemis.' Zoe said. Thalia frowned, obviously knowing what Zoe was trying to get at.

'But her attachment and bond with Percy will restrict that. They would have each other's backs any time. They are like two pieces of a puzzle, they act and fight like one person. I've never seen such chemistry in blood bound demigod siblings before. I remember back when we fought against you in capture the flag, Percy and Kayla worked together to take me down and I could of sworn I saw Percy just glance sideways a bit. That's when he stopped and smiled, and I fell right into the trap. Their minds think alike, and although Percy is slightly stronger, she's a little stronger in the brains department.' Zoe explained. Thalia just looked at Zoe, astonished.

'Oh, so that's how we beat you…' Thalia said looking down thinking to herself. She thought Percy had just blatantly ignored her and went after the flag, she didn't know it was a plan him and Kayla had thought up.

They were closing in on the borders of camp half-blood; it had been a short three day trip of consistent running until they reached New York and pulled a cab. Zoe signaled to the driver as he pulled over outside of camp. The driver turned and raised an eyebrow.

'Are you sure you want to get out here Missy? There's nothing around here.' The driver questioned. Zoe rolled her eyes.

'That's fine, thanks for your concern though but we will be fine.' Zoe said handing the cab driver the money. He took it as they got out. As soon as the doors shut, the cab driver did a "U" turn and went back to New York City. Thalia seemed surprised at Zoe's manners. Zoe just huffed.

'I'm going soft because of Percy. I'll make sure to smack him around a bit.' Zoe said walking up to the Thalia's old tree. As the two hunters passed it, Thalia glanced nervously at the tree. A flood of old memories came rushing back to her as she remembered defending Luke, Annabeth and Grover and telling them to get to camp. She was about to be killed but her father saved her by turning her into a tree.

As they entered camp, they met a slightly friendly face as Grover came up to the two hunters sniffing the air. His face turned to joy as he jumped into a hug with Thalia.

'Hey goat boy, I missed you.' Thalia said hugging him back. Zoe eyed Thalia carefully.

'Careful Thalia, I know he's a satyr but he's still a boy.' Zoe said as she eyed Grover. Thalia rolled her eyes and poked her tongue out.

'Oh come on Zoe, he can barely be classified as a boy, I mean he doesn't even have those… parts.' Thalia said supressing a giggle. Grover turned beat red with embarrassment and anger.

'Hey, I take offence to that Thals!' Grover protested while Thalia just walked passed him and gave him a friendly bump.

'Relax goat boy, where's Annie and Kelp Head at?' Thalia asked. Zoe continued to eye Grover while he went wide eyed.

'P-Percy? O-oh right, well, um you see… eh…' Grover stuttered. Zoe growled dangerously.

'Don't even tell me he's already ditched camp!' Zoe said. Grover backed down under Zoe's frightening stare.

'N-No! Of course not, you see, Percy hasn't left his cabin since he got back to camp, he's been in there for four days straight.' Grover explained. Thalia and Zoe's eyes bulged as they heard this.

'Man, it's worse than I thought. Well, since were here, we will get him back into shape.' Thalia said walking in the direction of the Poseidon cabin. Grover protested.

'W-wait! The last kid to go in there was an Ares camper, he came out with cuts and bruises and two black eyes. I'm not sure Percy is in a very good mood. Not even Annabeth can snap him out of it. She's the only one that can actually go in there apart from me and come out unharmed.' Grover said. Thalia looked at Zoe as Zoe looked back at Thalia, they both smiled as they turned to the Poseidon cabin. Grover chuckled nervously,

'Oh please don't do what I think you going to do.' Thalia just looked at him and chuckled evilly.

'Oh just sit back and watch the show. Where not just going to knock him back into shape. We are going to kick his ass until he regains composer of his life and actually decides to help us find Kayla instead of being a dried out piece of beached seaweed.' Thalia said. Zoe chuckled.

'Nice use of words, I think I'll write that down somewhere.' Zoe said, Thalia laughed.

'Shut up Zoe, you will run out of trees when I'm done with ways to call Perce names.' Thalia retorted. They both chuckled as they walked towards the Poseidon cabin with a nervous Grover trotting after them.

As they reached the Poseidon cabin, Annabeth was sitting outside, looking terrible. Her blonde hair was a mess; she looked like she hadn't slept in days and she smelt of wet cardboard, as soon as Annabeth saw the two huntresses walking towards her direction. Her frown turned upside down as she got up and ran towards Thalia and jumped into a hug. Thalia quickly pushed her away clutching her nose.

'Good gods girl when was the last time you showered?!' Thalia said trying to block out the smell. Annabeth turned pink.

'I haven't been having a good time lately, been too worried about Percy to even care about hygiene.' Annabeth retorted sadly. Zoe sighed at Annabeth.

'Go have a shower, when you get back, Percy will be fine.' Zoe said with the backing up smile of Thalia. Annabeth looked skeptical as to what the two man hating huntresses were up too. Annabeth dismissed the thoughts, too tired to even care. Without another thought, she turned and headed for the showers.

As Annabeth walked off towards the showers, Thalia and Zoe proceeded to the Poseidon cabin gaining nervous stares from various campers. As they reached the sea green cabin of the sea god, they wasted no time as to walking up to the front door and politely kicking it in, as the two girls proceeded in.

'Leave me alone.' Came a sorrow filled voice. Thalia sighed and looked at Zoe.

'Let's kick his ass; he needs to stop drooping around and being a sad sea slug.' Thalia said with a small smile. She went over to the lump on the cabin bed and gave it a nice electric charge to it. In a matter of seconds, Percy shot out of bed and dunked his blazing hair into a fountain that stood at the end of his cabin. He turned around evilly only to be slapped multiple times by Zoe. Before he could say anything else, he was put on his knees and dragged and thrown out of his cabin.

He landed and rolled, snapping the cap of Anaklusmos. He turned to see his enemy to find that they were his two friends attacking him. Percy growled dangerously.

'What the Hades you guys! Are you looking for some kind of trouble or what?' Percy growled. However he was too dazed by being thrown on the ground to see that Zoe's knee had now found its way to his face. He was knocked onto his back. He jumped back up, his eyes shining a dangerous green. You could actually hear the waves from the distance shoreline on the camp's beach hitting the shore violently. Black clouds formed over the top of camp as a slight hurricane formed around Percy.

'That's it… let it out Percy, release your anger and you will feel better.' Thalia said. Zoe in the meantime was staring at the display of Percy's power. He hadn't shown this on the quest last winter… what had changed? Maybe it was the bond he had with his sister that was making him stronger, maybe his emotions were on the fritz and driving him up the wall to the point where he can't even control his power.

'Zoe, let me handle him. I think I'm the only one that can.' Thalia said. Zoe looked at Thalia only to see her eyes shine a bright blue as she was covered in a blanket of electricity as her own little hurricane formed around her. Zoe's eyes widened.

'Where in the Hades did you learn to do that!?' Zoe asked, as if she felt like her eyes were deceiving her. Thalia kept her eyes on the out of control Percy.

'Well, ever since I gained immortality, I found that I had a lot more control over my emotions and my hormones. I guess the immortality stopped puberty early. I've been able to control this power and I've actually gotten quite good at it lately.' Thalia explained. However, Percy's out sized her by a mile at least, the winds blowing around the camp where so intense. By now most of the camp had gathered around to watch the children of the big three fight it out in what seemed to be a hard duel.

'What is the meaning of this?! Thalia, please stop this, you are going to destroy the camp!' Chiron pleaded as he galloped into the scene. Thalia shook her head.

'Sorry sir, but Percy needs this otherwise he's going to be a couch potato, and we can't have that if we're going to find Kayla.' Thalia said summoning her spear, shouldering her silver bow.

Without warning, Percy zoomed forward and locked arms with Thalia, both of the children radiating intense powerful auras that made the other campers ashamed of themselves. As their weapons clashed, blue and orange sparks flew everywhere as Thalia and Percy floated around their deigned arena.

As Thalia continued to fight, it felt strange, as if Percy was fighting himself. It was like Kayla's inner shadow all over again and that gave Thalia a thought that troubled her. What if everyone had an inner shadow? What if her inner shadow wasn't just a curse? Maybe the curse was being able to interact with the shadow and learn about it. Thalia quickly dismissed that idea as Percy struck again with deadly force. Surely he wasn't trying to kill her, was he?

Percy answered that question with a hard attempt to cut her at the neck.

'_He's going for fatal areas! He really is trying to kill me, I have to win and subdue him. He's completely out of control!'_ Thalia thought as she pushed Percy into the defensive side. Her spear crackled with blue currents of voltage, waiting to shock on impact.

This was when Percy made the biggest mistake of that little battle with Thalia. He summoned a current of water that surrounded his body, healing his wounds that Thalia had inflicted. Thalia just chuckled causing the currents around Percy to rush faster as the aura grew larger and more out of control.

'You know Kelp Head, you are strong, I'll give you that, but take heed in future… never surround yourself with something at conducts electricity…' Thalia grinned. Percy's shining green eyes widened and tried to push away the water but he was too late. Thalia had already called down an average lightning bolt that completely fried Percy and electrocuting him. It wasn't enough to do fatal damage to him, but enough to drain his energy.

Percy collapsed to the ground, the hurricane disappearing around him. His eyes returned to his normal caring sea green eyes. He picked up his head and looked around wincing in pain.

Annabeth had just finished getting dressed from her shower as she saw Percy get struck down by lightening. She rushed to his side to see if he was okay and not in need of healing. As he looked into her eyes, his anger completely diminished and he had returned to his normal happy, joyful self. Percy looked at Thalia who had also returned to normal and was also on her knees breathing hard, using that much power was incredibly draining.

'T-thanks Thalia, I needed that. I needed a vent for my anger but I couldn't find a way so I just hid myself in my room. Sorry I put you through that, and sorry to you as well Annabeth. You didn't deserve my attitude towards you.' Annabeth smiled and gave Percy a hug.

'It's okay Percy, we will find a way to get Kayla back, I promise.' She said. Percy returned the hug. He could have sworn he heard a certain huntress gag in the background. He turned to Zoe and smiled. He stood up and walked over to her and extended a hand.

'Zoe.' He said with a nod. She smiled and shook his hand. Finally he turned over to Thalia who had got back to her feet but was also feeling extremely dizzy and walking around in a haze.

'Thanks Thalia, I would of hurt someone if you hadn't knocked me back into shape.' Percy said smiling stupidly. Thalia grinned.

'I would never pass up a day when I'm presented with a chance to kick your ass.' She said before promptly falling down again. Chiron smiled as he walked over to the group after dismissing the crowd and telling them to go back to their everyday routines.

'Percy my boy, I hope you're feeling better. You have a game of Monster hunting with the camp tonight run by our new swords master Quintus. I trust Lady Artemis's hunters will be participating as well?' Chiron questioned seeing as Zoe and Thalia were here. Zoe shook her head.

'Only Thalia and I have been stationed her by Lady Artemis because of the capture of Kayla Jackson. We are to aid in any form of rescue regarding her case sir.' Zoe replied formally. Chiron sighed, he wished he could be more help in this war, but he really didn't want to get involved due to his father Kronos.

'Anyway, we are here until we come up with a plan to find and save Kayla. She has ability, that… in the hands of the Titan's would not be very good.' Thalia said remembering what Kayla had. Chiron seemed to push that subject further.

'What sort of ability are we talking about…?' He asked raising his eyebrows. Zoe shifted uncomfortably. She remembered why Kayla's powers were unique, because of the weapons she had in her hands. Percy cleared his throat.

'Last winter, when we were to save Artemis and Annabeth, the last line of the prophecy stated that one of us would die by their parent's hand. That turned out to be Zoe.' Percy said. Chiron looked confused, as Zoe was currently standing right in front of him. Percy continued.

'You see, this is something we were all skeptical about. She had this weird inner shadow. It turns out that her blades actually had names and she could actually communicate with her swords, and that they actually have humanoid spirits that live inside her head.' Percy explained. He remembered her telling him about this, during their stay at camp before they left to stay with their mother.

'Those swords, are actually called, Destiny and Choice. She told us that they were the sisters of fates symbol of power. She used that power to deny Zoe's fate, healing her wounds in the process. You see Chiron, with those swords, she actually has the power to change prophecies and things that are supposed to happen, like stop people from dying, but we also found out that there was a consequence to saving Zoe. Thalia was forced to join the hunters due to a vision Kayla got right after she saved Zoe. She claimed it was a vision showing her the events that passed and were to happen if Zoe were to be killed, and for filling the last line of the prophecy.' Percy finished. Chiron gave a shaky sigh as he processed this new information.

'Why hasn't her change of fate been questioned?' Chiron asked. Everyone looked at each other. Thalia shrugged her shoulders.

'I guess nobody really asked. The only god who knows of Kayla's true ability is Artemis, and she hasn't told anyone. I think that's why she sent us here; she's determined to get Kayla out of the hands of the Titans to prevent any major changes they could make if they had that sort of power.' Thalia answered.

'It's not important right not, Thalia and I have been sent here to help with getting Kayla back to safety.' Zoe said turning and walking off to the Artemis cabin. Thalia followed in suit leaving Percy, Annabeth and Grover with Chiron. Percy turned to Chiron.

'I'm going to the Oracle soon, I want to see if I can get a quest off her to save my sister.' Percy said. Chiron nodded grimly. It wasn't the first time Percy had jumped to a quest to save a friend of a family member.

First he had gone on a quest to save Grover, his best friend and then just last winter, sneaked into a quest with man hating hunters just to save a friend and their mistress. Were there any qualities to that boy that weren't good?

'Percy, just wait until after tonight's game. Then I'll give you permission to see the Oracle about your sister.' Chiron said. Percy just nodded and headed back to his cabin, feeling a little better after being kicked around by Thalia. She had let him vent all of his anger on her just to make him feel better. It worked well, but he still wanted to tear Kronos apart for taking his sister away from him and her friends.

-Line Break-

That night the camp had gathered around Chiron and the new swords master Quintus. Zoe had a strange feeling she knew who he was, that strange little brand on his neck seemed familiar to her but she just couldn't put her finger on it.

Zoe was standing by herself while Thalia was talking to Percy about the disappearance of Nico. Percy had actually approached them later that day and told them that Nico and Bianca were actually children of Hades. Zoe was furious at this as now she knew that all of the big three had actually broken their oath. Then Percy reminded her that Bianca was born around 1945, a time before the oath was actually made. She was still angry but calmed down a bit. It also explained how Bianca was able to kill that skeleton; her powers over the reanimated dead must have sent them back to the fields of punishment or wherever they had come from.

As far as Zoe and Thalia were concerned, their hunt had come across no trail or sign of where Nico was. However, at no time were they actually looking for him. If they were, they might have found him but they weren't. Now things were getting dangerous. Nico a powerful child of Hades was missing and Kayla was in captivity and in the hands of Kronos's army as well as the Titan lord himself. Two very powerful demigods that were currently unavailable and war was only less than two years away.

The camp was currently preparing for their game to hunt down and find the monsters with three packages on their backs. The monsters were unidentified, but with two lieutenants of the hunters here, everyone knew who was going to win. The hunters hunt monsters as their life. This would be a walk in the park for them.

The game demanded that the campers would be in teams of two. Naturally, Annabeth went straight to Percy, and obviously it was Thalia and Zoe together. They all lined up on the edge of the forest ready to head in and find those packages. As the campers lined up, Zoe sighed as she looked at the ground.

'Scorpions, at least seven of them, and three packages tied to their backs. Looks like three went west; two went north, one south and one east. I doubt all the packages would be together. Let's go pick off the stragglers so we can get this game over a done with.' Zoe whispered to Thalia. She nodded in agreement, and as soon as the horn sounded, the two hunters sprang into action racing through the small forest, leaving the others in dust.

At least five minutes later, Zoe and Thalia already had two packages and were currently looking for the last one, before they ran into the Stroll Brothers who had one.

'That's three. Game over I guess.' Thalia sighed. Conner jumped in glee.

'We got one! At least you two didn't get them all.' Travis said while Conner was doing a victory dance. Zoe just sighed, she hated those two brothers. They were the reason Phoebe was unable to go on the quest, but now that she actually thought about it, two people were supposed to die on that quest including her. She was actually a little grateful that Phoebe was unable to go.

'Let's go back so this game can be over.' Zoe scoffed as she walked off back to the starting line. Thalia followed along with the Stroll Brothers.

As soon as the horn sounded for game over, all the campers came back to the starting line looking disappointed and tired. Most of them were covered in monster dust and some were even hurt and injured from being knocked around by some of the monsters. Zoe and Thalia looked around for Percy and Annabeth but the two were nowhere in sight.

'Chiron, Percy and Annabeth haven't returned.' Thalia said with a worried look on her face. Chiron seemed surprised. He turned to the campers.

'Has anyone had any contact with Percy or Annabeth?' He got a bunch of snickers from the campers, Zoe seemed to get the hint of what the campers were thinking about. Her face went bright red as she felt like she wanted to throw up.

'They are probably doing it somewhere in the forest.' One of the campers snickered. Chiron sighed; even for demigods they still have the sense of humor of mortal five year olds. Zoe's anger peaked as she instantly notched an arrow and fired it, impaling right next to a child of Ares.

'If you wish to keep that status of being a male, I suggest you keep your mouth shut.' Zoe snarled. The Ares camper growled, going for his sword but his cabin friends stopped him at the same time giving killer glares in Zoe's direction.

'Typical children of that pathetic war god, they are ignorant and selfish, just like their farther.' Zoe muttered under her breath.

'Everyone return to your cabins immediately. Zoe, Thalia, Conner and Travis, and Grover… please can you go find those two.' Chiron said turning and trotting back to the Big House. Thalia sighed.

'I really hope they aren't doing something they are going to regret.' Thalia grumbled as she turned and walked back in the direction of the woods. Zoe muttered something about couples and how stupid love can be as she followed Thalia. Grover followed nervously behind Zoe along with Stroll Brothers who were just talking like regular brothers, discussing their next prank on Katie, a daughter of Demeter.

After almost an hour of calling and searching, there was absolutely no sign of them. Thalia and Zoe followed a trail that lead towards Zeus's fist, and around it and in between some rocks but then nothing. It's like they vanished. They couldn't have been kidnapped; they were still in the borders of Camp Half-blood. Thalia and Zoe were about to give up, however Grover noticed something.

'H-Hey, guys look at this!' Grover said examining the side of a rock. Zoe and Thalia went and stood next to Grover and looked at what he was looking at. The Stroll Brothers had gone off somewhere looking in another part of the forest.

There was a little icon on the side of the rocks that made all three bloods run cold. It was a tri-force symbol, the symbol of Daedalus, the entrance to the Labyrinth. Zoe swallowed hard.

'You don't think they might of…' Thalia stated to say before the symbol shined a bright blue colour. The rocks opened up and out fell Percy and Annabeth right on top of Thalia and Grover. Zoe managed to jump back in time.

'Aw man that was a close one!' Percy gasped as he breathed in fresh air. He stood up as he was the one who fell on Thalia in an awkward position that made Annabeth jealous. Thalia blushed and pushed Percy off as he helped her up. Thalia turned to Annabeth who was covered in dust.

'You guys found an entrance to the Labyrinth!' She exclaimed. Percy coughed a little bit from the dust.

'Also an invasion route straight into the heart of camp, if Kronos ever finds a way to navigate it.' Percy said seriously. 'We need to destroy the entrance so he can't get through.' Zoe shook her head.

'That won't work, the entrance will only move a few meters. What we really need to do is kill Daedalus because his life force is tied to the Labyrinth, but that doesn't make any sense, he should have died millennia ago.' Zoe said putting her hand to her head. She had come across the man once; he had a strange brand on his neck…

'Yeah, _should_ have.' Percy said. Thalia looked confused.

'Wait he's not immortal is he?' Zoe scoffed.

'Never was, and definitely should not, after what he did. He killed his son and his step son, he was the smartest child of Athena, even rumored to have been smarter than Athena herself, but after his crime Athena put a curse of him, reminding him of who he is and what he's done.' Zoe explained. Annabeth looked interested.

'What sort of curse?' She asked. Zoe tried to remember but all she could get was some sort of brand or picture.

'I don't know, I can't remember. It was far too ago, back when I was just a regular hunter in milady's group.' Zoe said. Zoe shook her head, dismissing those thoughts.

'Regardless, if we want to protect this camp, someone needs to go down there and find Daedalus and put him down. Otherwise, we can say good-bye to camp half-blood.' Zoe stated.

That thought chilled everyone to the bone. They were facing a major threat on camp that could possibly kill every single Greek demigod. Without any more words being said, the group left and headed to the big house to warn Chiron about the entrance to the camp.

When they got they got there, they explained to Chiron the situation. Although this was a threat that could wipe out the entire camp, Chiron managed to remain clam throughout the talk. When Zoe finished explaining, they all sat in silence as Chiron began to talk.

'A quest must be issued. I believe since this quest involves Daedalus, I would recommend Annabeth to be the leader of this quest.' Chiron stated. Percy wanted to protest because he wanted to find his sister and he wanted a prophecy to get off the Oracle but he then realised that the camp was under a huge amount of danger. Percy sighed.

'I will go with Annabeth into the Labyrinth. If there's any chance I will find my sister, I am going to take it.' Percy said. Thalia sighed.

'I guess that means Zoe and I are going as well?' Thalia said looking around the room. There were no protests. Thalia smiled as Grover put his hand up for the quest.

'I'll go to.' Grover said. Percy smiled along with Annabeth. Annabeth was very happy. She had all her friends coming along, people she trusted. She had no doubt they would all get through this and they would find Kayla and bring her back, and hopefully find Luke in the process and convince him to come back. Annabeth turned to Chiron, who gave her a weak smile.

'Go on Annabeth, Oracles upstairs in the attic.' He said. Annabeth nodded looking a little white. Talking to the Oracle was like talking to a ghost trapped in a mummy's body. It was a little unsettling to say the least. Annabeth got up from her seat while the others remained seat, she turned towards the direction of the attic and shakily made her way towards the Oracles attic where all the demigod junk was kept.

The rest sat in silence. Thalia then asked a question that had been on her mind ever since they got Percy and Annabeth out of the Labyrinth entrance.

'Percy, you were down in the Labyrinth for an hour, how could you not find the exit?' Thalia asked. Percy seemed confused.

'An hour…? But we were only down there for at least five minutes.' Percy replied. This confused Thalia until Zoe answered her question.

'Time passes a lot faster in the Labyrinth. I don't know why, it just does, also I've heard the Labyrinth tends to have a mind of its own, tries to confuse you and mess with your head. Logic and reason doesn't exist down in that place. It's wise to know that before entering.' Zoe explained. Thalia turned to Zoe with a questionable look on her face.

'How do you know all this stuff?' Thalia asked. Zoe scoffed.

'Please sister. I'm more than two thousand years old. At least half a dozen of hunters I've known in the past we have found by Labyrinth entrances. Lady Artemis as questioned them to what the Labyrinth conditions are liked. They would say that down one tunnel, it would smell of trees and life, and then they would end up in a dry desert like areas. Also, the Labyrinth has a tendency to end up in the most unlikely of places.' Zoe explained more. Thalia scolded herself for asking. She kept forgetting that Zoe was at least more than two millennia older than anyone in this room except for Chiron. It was hard when she looked, acted and spoke like a fourteen year old.

Before anyone could say anything, Annabeth walked back into the room, looking a little shaken up, obviously by the lines of the prophecy. Chiron raised an eyebrow while the others waited for her to say the lines.

'Well my dear? What did it say?' Annabeth seemed to hesitate. She took a deep breath.

'_You shall delve into the darkness of the endless maze._

_'The prisoner, the dead, the traitor and the lost one rise.'_ Annabeth said. Percy sighed happily.

'The prisoner must mean Kayla, it has to. Who else do the Titans have captive?' Percy asked, meanwhile Grover was jumping out of his seat.

'The lost one!? That has to mean Pan! It makes sense! No wonder we cannot find him, I bet you he is in the Labyrinth, but why would he go down there? There is no nature and trees underground…' Grover said sitting down in thought. Chiron motioned for Annabeth to go on. She took another breath.

'_You shall rise or fall by the ghost kings hand._

_'To witness the child of Athena's final stand.' _Annabeth continued. Now this made everyone very concerned about Annabeth's safety, however Zoe was skeptical.

'Now hold on a minute. Do not forget Daedalus is a child of Athena as well. The child of Athena's final stand could very well mean his death.' Zoe reminded everyone. This seemed to make sense, but Annabeth was still at risk, prophecies could mean anything and had a tendency to turn out in the worst possible ways.

'Is there anymore to the prophecy?' Chiron asked. Annabeth nodded.

'_Destroyed with a hero's final breath.'_ Annabeth said. She really did not want to say the last line.

'_To lose a love to worse than death.'_ Annabeth thought. She refused to say that last line, it had so many meanings. Percy could lose his sister to that curse, or maybe she would lose Percy to something unimaginable but she couldn't think of what it could mean.

Chiron eyed Annabeth, he knew she was hiding the last line but decided not to push it. The tying lines of prophecies tended to be the worst so he decided not to force it out of her.

'I see, an interesting prophecy, I think it would be best to see you off in the morning. However, taking five is a risk. Last time Zoe took five and one ended up dying, and another was meant to die. Take heed, Kayla does not accompany you on this quest so please take caution. If you find her, you must bring her back.' Chiron said. He looked at the quest group and saw the determination in their eyes. This was a good quest group, filled with strong demigods, he had no doubt they would succeed in their quest.

As the meeting was adjourned, Quintus who had been in the corner watching and listening to the demigods speak pulled Percy aside and urged him not to go and how he had been in the Labyrinth and barely escaped with his life. He also confirmed what Zoe had said, that the Labyrinth exists to fool you and distract you. In the end, he gave Percy something small, a dog whistle made from the Styx. Impossible to melt and break, but blow on it and it will shatter. Percy was hesitant to take the gift. Last time he took a gift from someone before the quest it almost ended up dragging him to his death. Percy decided he would only use it if things were absolutely out of control and there was no way to get out.

He left Quintus and headed back to his cabin to get a good night's sleep. He couldn't help but shake the feeling that one of them was going to die on this quest. It made him shaky, and unstable. Maybe his sister is already dead? No, he refused to believe that, he knew she was still alive, it was a connection they had, he couldn't describe it but it was like he could feel her life force, it was even before they had even met. Percy felt as if he was connect to something else but just dismissed it thinking it was another sort of link to Grover since the two shared a mental link.

Percy began to pack his things, getting ready for the quest. He looked at the empty bed Kayla use to sleep in. The pillow even had long black strains of hair on it. The bed smelt like her, and on the nightstand they shared, there was a photo of both of them, and Annabeth. The picture was taken only a few days before her capture.

Percy picked the photo up, trying his hardest not to think about the worst possible case but to think about the best case.

'_I will find you, I swear it on the Styx_' Percy thought as thunder rumbled in the distance sealing the oath to himself. Once he had finished packing, he dropped to his bed and fell asleep.

His eyes snapped open to dream-like statues. He was on board Luke's demon cruise ship, and was currently in the stateroom. There in the room was Kronos himself, in the golden coffin with Luke kneeling at the base of it.

'Our spies report that the camp indeed has issued a quest to find Daedalus, as you predicted, our side of the bargain is almost complete.' Luke said emotionlessly. His blonde hair was white, like an elderly man and his skin was so pale it could have been mistaken as a sheet of paper.

'Excellent… and what of Jackson's sister?' Kronos voice echoed the room. Percy felt himself tense.

'Safe and secure, what do you plan to do with her master?' Luke asked hesitantly. Percy could hear the slight chuckle of the Titan lord echoing the room around them.

'Have her bound and caged, I plan to take her as hostage as we march on Camp Half-blood. Perseus wouldn't dare do anything that might hurt her. She is the perfect leverage to exclude Perseus from the fight in camp Half-Blood, he backs down from that battle, his sister stays alive, but they will watch his precious camp burn to the ground.' Kronos said. Percy felt rage building up inside of him, this was sick! Luke tensed.

'My lord, shouldn't we make the demigods surrender and persuade them to join our cause. They will be great assets! Our business is with the gods, not their children!-' Luke as cut off by Kronos.

'Silence! Draw your sword.' Kronos ordered. Luke did as instructed as he drew Backbiter and stared at it.

'This sword, was given to you when you pledged yourself to me, am I not mistaken?' Kronos asked. Luke sighed in defeat.

'Yes my lord. I pledged myself to your command.' Luke stated sadly. Kronos chuckled.

'Luke Castellan, you wanted power and I gave it to you. You are now beyond harm; do you not wish to have revenge on the gods for what they have done to you and all demigods in your position? Do you not wish to see Olympus destroyed?' Kronos questioned. Percy expected Luke to answer right away knowing that traitor, but he took a while to answer.

'I-I do.' Luke said at last. Kronos chuckled.

'Then ready the strike force for Camp Half-Blood. We will march when the bargain is complete.' Kronos said. The vision faded and Percy awoke, his eyes blazing green. How dare Kronos use his sister against him! Percy got up and walked over to the fountain and sighed, letting go of his anger as he felt strength hearing the water gurgle in the fountain.

'If only things couldn't get any worse than they already are… please, at least let him be okay…' Percy muttered as he got out a Drachma out of his pocket and flipped it into the fountain.

'Oh Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow, please show me Nico di Angelo.' He said as a mist shimmered into existence. It showed Nico, accompanied by a strange looking ghost. They were at some sort of graveyard while Nico was pouring cans of diet coke and cheese burgers into graves.

Nico continued to ask each ghost about a soul exchange and how he could get his sister back. This was very bad; Nico was out for information on how to get his sister back. If he's looking for a soul, Percy had a feeling Nico would come after him to exchange his soul for Bianca's.

'Soul for Soul… is it true it would work?' Nico asked the ghost. The ghost's transparent eyes widened.

'It would, but I would not recommend it. You must find a soul who has cheated death many times, a soul that death is trying to reach but cannot claim. I warn you, soul trading it a dangerous road to walk down son of Hades, do not attempt it.' The ghost warned. Nico growled.

'I want to see my sister!' He screamed. The mist around the graveyard became more dense and harder to see through.

'The ghost looked around in shock as the other ghosts were trying to disappear but being held there by Nico's power. The ghost turned back to Nico.

'Please you must release us! He draws closer!' The ghost warned. The Iris message began to shake violently as the image turned different colors like a badly edited YouTube video. Percy started to get a headache until he uncapped Riptide and slashed the fountain into two pieces and kicking out the back of his cabin. The Iris message disappeared as Percy collapsed to the ground breathing heavily.

'My sister is captured and is going to be used against me to exclude me from battles. Nico is trying to find a way to revive his sister using the most dangerous ways possible, and the camp is going to be destroyed by a marching force that's big enough to destroy Olympus. Can anything get any worse?' Percy muttered angrily.

-Line Break-

Kayla sat in darkness for a very long time; often monsters would come in, give her some scrapes of food and beat her up a little. Since she was chained to a wall, she had no way of retaliating. Her clothes were ripped and shredded, she had a black eye and occasionally blood would stream from her nose and her lips were cut and raw.

In her sleep, she retreated to her inner world where she would talk with Choice and Destiny, her two swords that had spirits that lived inside her head. They were the only two things she could talk to, her manifestation of her power or her curse. Though now it didn't really seem like a curse, more like a weapon, that if used badly, could rip apart the course of history and fate. She had to be careful who she saved and who she let die. However, right now she was in no position to do any of that.

Today she had spent at least a week in captivity, being beaten and abused to the point where she would black out and wake up feeling like a steam roller had squashed her and rolled over her at least several dozen times.

The door to her prison opened and light flooded in, blinding her. Her eyes were blood shot and her black hair was dusty and knotted. Through the door stepped a few monsters, leading them was the Empousai who had knocked her out.

'Wakey, Wakey, it's time to go little sea spawn. We march on your pretty little camp in a few days. It's time to get you ready for the occasion.' Kelli snarled as the monsters unshackled her and threw her in front of Kelli who kneed her in the face. She groaned, fresh hot tears sprung from her eyes. She felt burning rage build up inside of her, now would be the best time to let out that monster inside of her. However that doesn't happen since she accepted the curse and embraced it, instead controlled that power, to enhance her instincts and reflexes.

She smiled; it was a small smile that the monsters didn't pick up on. Luke had visited her day before and told her she couldn't be freed by him, but a squad of monsters would be freeing her today. He told her as soon as her hands were free to fight back, and that's exactly what she was going to do. A clumsy Cyclops put a key into her shackles and they snapped open and dropped to the ground. Before they even had time to restrain her, Kayla summoned her swords which instantly lit ablaze lighting up the darkened room even more. She spun and slice that Cyclops into the next life.

Before the other monsters even had time to shriek for help, Kayla was already spinning her swords and cutting through every single monster. Kelli was the last to turn to golden dust as she died without a second thought.

Kayla looked around; golden dust lay on the floor, and after a few seconds lit ablaze into a black flame. It was strange; Kayla had always questioned why it did that. She had seen her brother kill monsters before but their remains never turned into a black flame.

Kayla dismissed her swords, back into their bracelets as she pushed open the door of her cell and walked into a corridor. She looked around. Luke had told her that her only way out was through the Labyrinth which was a large stone door located down the hallway. As she walked down the dark blue marble hallway, she saw a large stone door at the end with a tri-force symbol engraved on the stone door.

She wasted no time running up to the door and pushing it open. Behind her she heard screams, growls and wails of monsters heading towards her direction. She turned around to see at least a small army running towards her with swords and other weapons ready to cut her down.

She pushed as hard as she could as the door budged and she fell through, down into a cavern of darkness. She turned and looked back upwards as a large stone hatch closed as the blue tri-force symbol shined and locked itself. She was alone once again in darkness, however she had escaped.

She summoned her swords and lit them ablaze, using them as a make shift torch so she could navigate her way through this place. Luke told her it was dangerous and it likely to make her go insane if she was stuck down here too long.

She felt paper rustle in her pocket as she remembers the letter Luke gave her to give to Annabeth and Thalia if she ever got the chance. She promised Luke she would deliver the message and figure out a way to save him. She would not let a misjudged and mistreated demigod die for a cause that doesn't care for him.

She started off down the long, dark, cold tunnel of madness, not even daring to look back to see if the monsters were following her. From what Luke told her, monsters weren't the only bad things that lurked in the deepest places of the earth. There are other things, some so ancient and so forgotten that they seek refuge in the Labyrinth as their home. One thing was for sure, she wasn't going to find a way out without a fight.

Kayla walked off into the darkness of the Labyrinth by herself, determined to find her way home and back to Percy.

-Line Break-

A/N: There you have it, the beginning to The Battle of the Labyrinth and I have to say that I quite liked writing this chapter.

Anyway down to business. More or less of you are wondering if Kayla will become a hunter... all I have to say is "Wait and find out :)" but it might be a while if she does. And also I might do a poll on my profile.

Also, I'm going to start adding monsters that don't appear in the Percy Jackson Series, I won't say what because it will be a surprise :D and they will be seriously dangerous and powerful. They have probably been used in other fan fictions but I will use them here to make the story a little more interesting.

As you can also see, I haven't brought Tyson into the series just simply because I never found him to be that interesting and relevant to the story other than in the Sea of monsters. Doesn't mean I wont have him come in later on.

Let me know what you think of the story so far, i enjoy reading all your reviews and I'm glad that most of you love it so far! Makes me want to write more. Since my exams are over for now, I will continue to write more but the updates may come a little slower as I have now caught up with myself and I am still currently writing the next chapter.

Lastly, if there's any questions you want to ask, feel free to PM me, i wont mind as i am not that busy :)

Thanks and I'll see you guys next chapter! :)


	8. Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven: Into the Darkness

Percy, Annabeth, Thalia, Zoe and Grover, four of these demigods that had attended the quest last winter and had come back intact and if anyone could survive a task as dangerous as heading into the Labyrinth, it was going to be them. They all met at Zeus's fist where each cabin leader, plus Chiron were there to see them off.

'Are you guys ready?' Annabeth said. They were indeed ready; they had packed everything they needed. Food, water, sleeping bags and everything you need to go into a dangerous monster infested maze of madness.

'Let's go.' Zoe said as she climbed in first and jumped down into the darkness. Thalia followed in suit, Annabeth then Percy. Grover however was now hesitant. He was so nervous he actually managed to trip and fall down into the Labyrinth landing on his face, against the hard concrete floor.

As the five had entered, the tri-force symbol locked and closed up above them. There was heavy breathing until Zoe and Thalia lit make-shift lanterns while Annabeth and Percy had battery powered torches. Grover just stumbled around behind them trying to keep his balance while trotting in the darkness.

Percy shined his torch around looking confused.

'This isn't what Annabeth and I fell into last night. This is different, this place looks like a sewer like the ones under Manhattan or New York.' Percy said. Annabeth sighed.

'The Labyrinth moves, we probably aren't even under Camp anymore.' Annabeth said as the group continued walking. 'Keep to the left wall, if it makes sense, Daedalus' workshop should be around the oldest part of the Labyrinth. That would make sense.' Annabeth said, Zoe snorted.

'Did I not say that the Labyrinth exists to fool you? For all we know, his workshop could be in bunker that was built in world war two, or be in a stain glass building on the middle floor. The Labyrinth can be anywhere Annabeth, not just underground. It's like a magical door way. Open it and you end up somewhere else entirely.' Zoe said as he kept walking. Thalia rolled her eyes. Zoe also tended to say things that even a daughter of Athena could not decipher.

As the group kept walking, they passed something that made Percy gag.

'Man, talk about old, this guy looked like he's from the 1950's!' Percy said examining a skeleton corpse of a dead milkman. He had a six pack of bottled milk, no doubt expired. The corpse was covered in cobwebs and spiders.

'Mortals tend to accidentally get trapped down here. They will stumble into the Labyrinth without even knowing. They could never cope with the madness so they end up going insane and dying of starvation or dehydration.' Zoe explained.

It wasn't long before they entered a sanctuary type of place, with the custom lead-light windows with light pouring through them. Percy and Grover looked at them with confusion.

'B-but were underground! Why is there light coming through those windows?' Grover asked. Thalia looked at the windows, the gears turning in her head.

'It's like Zoe said, the Labyrinth tries to fool you. Don't forget, we are still underground, no matter how much light you see.' Thalia reminded the two boys. Zoe looked around, satisfied with how much ground they had covered since they entered.

'Annabeth, is it alright if we rest now? It's about dusk and I think it would be good to rest and replenish our energy.' Annabeth nodded as they all sat down and took out some snacks. After the next five minutes they continued on, knowing absolutely no idea where they were going.

'Left' Annabeth said. Thalia frowned.

'How do you know where to go?' She asked crossing her arms. Annabeth sighed and gave a small smile with a shrug.

'Deductive reasoning?' Annabeth said. Percy deadpanned.

'So you're guessing?' He said. Annabeth went red.

'Shut up Seaweed brain! I don't see you with a map!' Percy decided to keep his mouth shut. As they continued to walk, they walked through various different places. There were basements, wine cellars, and tunnels, lots and lots of tunnels.

Suddenly they all walked back into the place where they had just rested and had snacks. Zoe face palmed and sighed while Thalia proceeded to knock her head against the closest wall in frustration. Annabeth was confused while Percy just kicked the ground. Grover was the only one who just remained silent.

'This is ridiculous! We just walked in a circle, how in the Hades do we actually advance forward without walking in circles!?' Thalia exclaimed. Grover sniffed the air.

'I smell something dangerous coming at us really fast… but I can't tell what direction.' He said, they all froze and stayed silent. Coming down the tunnel behind them was a noise; a sort of slithering sound could be heard.

Zoe's instincts screamed at her to move, however she stayed silent, trying to figure out what could be making such a noise. Suddenly they hear a hiss, the sound a snake would make. Zoe closed her eyes as she realized what it was. A creature that not even she, or Artemis had ever come across, nor did they ever want to.

'Run.' Zoe said simply, as she turned and ran down the closest tunnel. The others looked questionable as they turned and ran after her trying to catch up. As Thalia managed to catch up, she looked at Zoe in confusion.

'You know what's coming.' Zoe gulped.

'I really hope I'm wrong, but I think it's the Basilisk!' Zoe warned. Grover's eyes went wide.

'T-The legendary wild snake!? I'm out of here!' Grover screamed as he bolted past Zoe and the others. The others sped up, obviously not wanting to become snake food. Percy looked back to see the overly large form of the snake slithering faster and faster after them. However, the tunnel continued to get smaller and smaller.

Just as everyone managed to get out of the tunnel and into a newer room, the large Basilisk tried to squeeze through the gap to chow down on the demigods, but it was just too big to fit through the last part of the tunnel. Zoe quickly turned and fired two arrows, each piercing its eyes. The Basilisk hissed threw itself around in a fit of pain, causing the tunnel it was stuck in to collapse on top of it, killing it instantly. The snake dissolved into a golden dust as Zoe walked up to the remains. She reached into the pile of dust and pulled out a snake tooth. She smiled.

'Lady Artemis will be pleased.' Zoe said with glee as she slipped the snake tooth into her bag. Percy's eyes were wide.

'I never knew killing a giant snake was so easy…' he said in awe. Zoe frowned at his stupidity; they had the advantage right from the start.

'Idiot, we had the advantage. It was stuck; I hit it in its weak points. It felt too much pain and flung its body around causing the cavern to collapse on top of it. It was easy because it basically killed itself.' Zoe explained. Everyone seemed to stare at Zoe as if they couldn't believe what they had just seen.

Before anyone could say thing more, their attention was drawn to a couple standing in front of two locked doors. One was a male wearing a black suit and the other was a female wearing a nice dress. They stared at the demigods with smug looks on their faces.

The quest group stood up and approached the strange couple. Annabeth was tentative about this; they were just… staring at them waiting for them to come to them.

'The children do seem frightened don't they?' The female asked. Her male counterpart nodded, keeping the same smile making the demigods and the satyr nervous.

'I do believe they are, though I cannot blame them.' The male said.

'They do have a long path a head of them.' The female said again.

'A path that leads to death.' The male said.

'And other leading to life.' The female said. It was annoying the way those two talked. They finished each other's sentences. Annabeth seemed confused, while Thalia was getting annoyed.

'Excuse me… could you stop that please?' Annabeth asked nicely, although you could tell she was also annoyed by the tone in her voice. The couple looked at Annabeth and smiled.

'Stop what my dear?' They both said in unison. Percy seemed uncomfortable with the way the two strange people just seemed to finish each other's sentences and able to talk in complete unison.

'Okay that was just creepy.' Percy said, summing up what everyone else in the group was thinking. Annabeth sighed in frustration, what could two people be doing down here just so casually? Where they even human or were they demigods? Were they monsters or are they gods?

'Okay.' Annabeth said pointing at the two people who just smiled back innocently. 'Who are you two and why are you… talking like a married couple?'

The female looked like one of those old fashioned women you would see back in the 1960's with a very delicate and beautiful clothing that you would see if you were to go to a posh party. The male was the same except he wore a professional suit with a tie he kept readjusting. The female had her hair tied up in a bun and the male's hair was slick and combed backwards. The two looked like they were attending a private party in a really expensive hotel.

'We are the god-' the male said.

'-And goddess-' the female said.

'-of doorways and decisions.' The both finished. Thalia groaned while Zoe just looked away and put her hand to her forehead.

'_This is starting to give me a headache.'_ Zoe thought as she sighed and looked back at the two god and goddess. She was surprised though, a god and a goddess sharing the same domain? It wasn't something that common. Annabeth growled slightly.

'Okay… what are you doing interfering with a quest? You know immortals aren't supposed to interfere with quests.' Annabeth said. The two smiled mockingly.

'We understand that you Ms Chase must make a decision sooner or later that will either let you continue living…' the goddess said.

'Or will kill you and your friends.' The male god finished. Annabeth drew a shaky breath. She hated this, gods loved to play mind games with demigods, especially when they are on the opposite side.

'_I guess when you have been alive for at least three millennia you take interest in playing mind games with demigods…'_ Annabeth thought, however she was the daughter of Athena and mind games didn't exactly work well on her, no matter who it was who was playing the game.

'I know what you're trying to do, and it's not going to work.' Annabeth stated, staring down the god and goddess. The two immortals looked at each other and chuckled a little bit, however before they could retort, another blinding light flashed into the room they were in.

There in the middle, dressed like a queen and radiating the power that made everyone want to sink to their knees was Hera, who stood in all of her glory. She scowled at the two gods who stood before her.

'Be gone! Don't let me ever catch you two meddling with quests of mortals!' Hera snapped. The two minor immortals rolled their eyes and flashed out of the room leaving the satyr and the four demigods in the care of women who hated demigods with a vengeance.

Hera turned and smiled, shocking the group entirely.

'I am sorry about that. Minor gods are getting upset as their rolls are quite small in the upcoming war. Some have turned, while the others remain neutral.' Hera said summoning food and brightening up the room. Suddenly the entire room felt like a family picnic as freshly made sandwiches and watermelon appeared on blankets in front of the five teenagers.

Zoe looked up and frowned slightly, she knew from past experience that Hera had no love for demigods. To her, they were all reminders of how the gods are unfaithful to their lovers. Since Hera was the queen of marriage and family, she guessed she must feel impacted and less important about how all the male gods seem to go from one woman to the next. This even made Zoe sick just thinking about it.

'Why don't you five sit down and eat for a while?' Hera said nicely. Thalia seemed nervous; she knew Hera hated her out of all of them. She was the child of her husband from another mother, a very abusive mother who cared nothing for her. The fact that Hera was being this nice around her _and_ Percy was a complete mystery. She was up to something, or she wanted something from them.

'I know what you're thinking. I don't like demigods, but you question why I am here helping you out? The answer is simple. Yes I do not like you, but I am the Goddess of family and it my job to keep Olympus from falling apart. I want you five to do what you came down here to do, and nothing more.' Hera said. Zoe just rolled her eyes as she turned to the side so Hera couldn't see.

Annabeth picked steeled her nerves as she got up and approached Hera. The queen of the gods seemed to notice her and frown slightly.

'Yes?' Hera said. Annabeth swallowed hard knowing if she said the wrong thing, Hera would blast her to oblivion.

'D-do you know of a way we can navigate this Labyrinth quicker?' Annabeth asked. Hera smiled and looked away.

'I don't have a clue. I do not come down here that often so I do not know how, but I know that Percy knows how to.' Hera said. Everyone looked at Percy as he looked around in confusion.

'I have no idea what she's talking about.' Percy shrugged. Hera chuckled.

'Yes you do, you just don't know it yet. You have the answer to navigate the Labyrinth. The string isn't the only thing that can clearly navigate the Labyrinth.' Hera said. Way above, even down in the Labyrinth, you could hear the rumble of thunder in the sky. Hera sighed and scoffed.

'As if he has any right to drag me back to Olympus.' Hera muttered. She turned to the demigods who were currently eating and snapped her fingers. The food that Grover was about to each turned to dust, as he looked sadly at his hands and moaned.

'I know you seek Daedalus, if you wish to find him seek out my son Hephaestus. So sorry I have to run off like this, my _husband_ demands my presence back on Olympus.' Hera said "Husband" as if it were a burden or a curse. Before anyone could say anything, Hera vanished, causing the room to go dark and gloomy again. Annabeth growled.

'What kind of help was that? Here have some food, oh! Percy knows the answer! Ah, I can't help you anymore, go find my son, bye!' Annabeth said in disgust. Before anyone could calm her down, Zoe felt the hairs on the back of her neck perk up. She lent down and put her hand to the ground. She looked around, no one was moving, but she could feel vibrations through the floor and it was coming from the right tunnel. Zoe stood up and looked down the right tunnel and fired a blind arrow faster than anyone could see.

In a few seconds an inhuman scream could be heard as the arrow struck its target. Zoe's eyes widened.

'Move!' Zoe said as she ran in the opposite direction, everyone running behind her.

'Seriously!? Two attacks in less than a few hours?' Percy panted as he caught up with her. Thalia looked back to see countless humanoid figures chasing them. They were easily faster than these humanoids but that soon didn't matter as a large bolder blocked the way.

'Shit!' Zoe said as she kicked the large bolder. Percy growled, his eyes glowing green.

'We are not dying here!' He said drawing Riptide and impaling it the bolder. In a few seconds, the bolder started to crack and in less than a heartbeat, the rock exploded. However, the cavern above them started to collapse.

'Get into the other side!' Thalia screamed as they all ran onto the other side just as the cavern above them collapsed behind them, sealing them off from whatever was chasing them. From behind the fallen rocks, scratching and wailing could be heard as the rocks refused to move.

'What in the Hades were those things?!' Annabeth said panting, eye hers struck with fear. Grover was shaking.

'I don't care; I don't exactly want to know. Zoe said there were forgotten creatures down here… I don't think I want to know what's on the other side of those rocks.' Grover said as he got to his hooves.

'Whatever they were, they were really angry.' Thalia said as she started to brush some of the dust off her clothes. As the group got up, they started to look around, but they didn't have to look for long as they found out they were caged in, metal bars around them. Grover felt scared, the scent of monsters were everywhere, however they weren't moving.

'Guys… where are we?' Grover said as he held onto the bars. Annabeth looked around the room, she had a faint memory of this place, it was strange, and then it hit her.

'Oh my gods, we're in Alcatraz! This is a prison!' Percy was dumbfounded.

'How did we end up on the other side of the country? We were down there for at least a day. There is no way we could have travelled that far!' Percy exclaimed, however Annabeth knew what she saw.

'Percy, were on an island near San Francisco, we're in Alcatraz, I'm pretty sure I know where we are.' Annabeth said. Zoe sighed, they weren't going to get out of these bars just standing around. She put her bag down on the ground and fished the Basilisk tooth out. She looked at it, studying it. Suddenly, the tooth changed in a bright flash of green light.

When Zoe looked at it again, it had become a sharp imperial golden dagger, around the edges, a green outline that went all around the dagger. She grinned as she approached that steel cage bars. With a few quick slashes, the cage bars melted due to the acid from the blade. The cage bars let off some smoke as the acid ate away at the metal bars. Everyone just stared at Zoe shocked.

She flipped the dagger and caught it, sheathing it on her side where it hung nicely. She stepped out of the melted cage bars and turned to the group.

'Come on, what are you guys waiting for? We got a friend and a runaway son of Hades to find and a son of Athena to kill.' She said smiling as she walked out of the cell and proceeded to find the nearest exit. The others followed her without a single word of complaint.

-Line Break-

Kayla wandered through the cold corridors and tunnels of the Labyrinth on her own. She held her two blades, Destiny and Choice out in front of her, ablaze of Greek flame to light the way and increase her vision in the darkness. It was cold down here, often she would hear noises down tunnels she would pass, sometimes screams of pain, people being tortured by gods knows what.

Consistently she would spin and look behind her to make sure she wasn't being stalked. That was what made this place so scary. The silence and the darkness made you paranoid. The feeling you were being watched no matter how far you walked, you felt this presence behind you.

'**_You must keep going.'_** Choice spoke in her sub-conscious. Her swords would talk to her; tell her what she must do. To keep going, she definitely agreed. She started to feel like she was going insane, as all the tunnels she went down, changed to something different, and then back again. It's like the place was trying to drive her to madness.

She walked into another cross roads, where the tunnels split into a four way direction. All the tunnels led to darkness and they all smelt the same. As she stood in the middle waving her swords around to light the tunnels to see where they would lead, the light would only go so far, to show even more darkness. She sighed.

'_I've been down here for hours… Where's a dammed exit?'_ She thought. She looked down one of the tunnels as something caught her eye, three humanoid figures strolling towards her, appendages stretching out of their backs and waving around in the darkness. They were at least two and a half heads taller than her as their bodies looked like twigs, long, thin and extremely scary. As the figures got closer, she saw that they had no faces, or that they were completely blank. Kayla caught her breath.

'**_The faceless ones! Run Kayla!'_** Choice spoke in her mind. Kayla had trouble moving, she couldn't take her eyes off those _things._ Fear rooted her to the spot, her eyes stuck to the humanoids as they got closer.

80 meters… 50 meters. Kayla opened her mouth but nothing came out. Finally she was snapped out by another voice inside of her head.

'**GET MOVING!'** Destiny screamed as Kayla was jumped at being yelled at so loudly. She turned away from the creatures and sprinted off down the opposite tunnel, as fast as her legs could carry her. She held up her blades in front of her lighting a path. She ran, down the tunnel as the darkness was burnt away by the flaming light from her blades. She spared a look backwards only briefly to see nothing was following her. She turned back and only 10 meters in front of her, were two more of those things.

She froze as the large skinny legs stepped forwards towards her. The head of one of the creatures leaned over right down to her face. Kayla's eyes were looking right at the blank white face of the creature. Fear filled her heart; it was like this thing was eating her life force. Suddenly its face split apart revealing rows and rows of pointy sharp teeth, purely for tearing flesh. As it got closer, Kayla brought up her sword on instinct pushing away the fear. The creature veered back and hissed. It went back to attack however Kayla had ran down another tunnel to the right away from the creatures.

Her breath was shaky as her body was sweating cold drops of fear. Her eyes darted around, pleading for an exit out of this place. She felt like crying, she was lost and she was now being chased by things she wasn't even sure was any sort of Greek mythical creature.

She kept running, darting through different tunnels, not even caring which tunnel she took. As she started to get tired, the tunnel she had ran into started to get smaller and smaller until she was forced to crawl. As she crawled she could see a light up ahead, the light poured into her eyes, giving her energy. She pushed through crawling and crawling, not even daring herself to look back. As she got to the end of the light she found herself looking out of a set of bars. A cattle grid used to keep cows in pens. With her remaining strength, she pushed it and moved it until she was out, as she climbed out, an appendage wrapped around her foot causing her to scream in pain. Whatever was on that appendage, was digging into her skins like knifes cutting a cooked chicken.

'Get off me!' She screamed as she swung one of her blades cutting off the appendage. One of the monsters tried to come out but the sunlight burnt their skin, forcing them back into the darkness. Kayla climbed out and sat down, eyes glued to the hole she had just climbed out of use. After a few minutes she sighed, relaxing herself. She lay down closing her eyes letting her body absorb the sun and its glorious UV rays. Then the sun was blocked out by a shadow. Kayla opened her eyes to find a large face staring at her, its eyes looking at her with interest.

'Moooooo' it said. Kayla had frozen thinking it was another monster, but when she saw it and heard it she just sighed.

'_Jesus, I almost jumped out of my skin! I've had enough scares for one day…'_ Kayla thought as she sat up and looked at the red cows.

'_Red cows? What in the world?'_ She thought as she looked at the pen of cows all standing around eating grass. She looked around until she was pushed over onto her knees. She rolled out of the way and pulled up her two swords in defense. The man large broad man had two dogs next to him, both greyhounds. The man looked stern and annoyed.

'What do we have here? A traveler, or a cow rustler?' He said. Kayla raised an eyebrow.

'A cow rustler? I don't know what that is. I just came out of the Labyrinth, running from some monsters.' She replied. The man's stern look told her to be wary as the dogs looked at her as if she was an afternoon snack.

'Put those weapons away. Your hurt, come with me and I'll heal your wound.' He said pointing towards her ankle. She looked down, it was bleeding and cut deep into the flesh. She didn't seemed convinced, being a half-blood you have to know whether to trust someone or not, your life could depend on it.

'Who are you, and why do you want to help me?' She asked. The man frowned.

'Eurytion, son of Ares… and you are?' He asked. She seemed skeptical, a demigod here? He looked like he was around twenty, maybe late twenties. He must be a lucky demigod to have survived that long.

'I'm Kayla, daughter of Poseidon.' She said dismissing her blades but keeping her eyes on the man. He seemed to stare back at her, studying her as if she were a book. He held out a hand as the dogs immediately heeled and stopped glaring at her like she was food, instead they looked around, assessing the area for any danger.

She limped over and took it as he helped her out of the fields and back towards the house that lay in the distance. It was quite a large house perked on top of the hill side next to a forest. It was a large Ranch house, all white stone and wood with quite large windows. It seemed like a nice place to live, where the sun was out and the area around them seemed peaceful.

Eurytion took Kayla inside and bandaged her foot and gave her some nectar, in no time, she felt as good as new. All of her other wounds, including her black eye that was already starting to heal, had been bleeding and dropping little drops of blood had healed. She stood up and looked around the ranch house. Very nice insides and place he had here. However before she got to explore any further another man walked into the room followed by the last person she ever thought she would see in a long time. The little boy who had run off only six months ago was standing only a few meters in front of her.

His messy clothes reminded her of Thalia, the way he wore them, and carried himself. He had large black bags under his eyes, like he hadn't slept in days. His skin was deadly pale and he reeked of corpses and decomposed flesh. He wore a black coat with black army boots as well as black gloves, everything about him seemed so deadly and dangerous. He looked at her, hatred filling his eyes. He drew his sword, made of Stygian Iron. A darker aura grew around him as strands of black hair dropped over his eyes.

'How dare you show your face here?!' Nico growled as he tried to charge only to be met with Kayla's black sword as sparks flew everywhere. Kayla stiffened, Nico was so angry, why couldn't he just accept Bianca's death? It had been at least six months to get over it… she needed to explain what really happened so he could stop blaming her brother and her for his sister's death.

'Nico… I understand you're angry, but killing me or Percy isn't going to make things any better.' Kayla tried to say. However Nico's eyes burned with hatred as he summoned a hand of shadow that shot out of the wall next to Kayla, slamming her into the wall dazing her little. Nico wasted no time going in for the kill, however was grabbed by Eurytion and thrown onto the ground as the son of Ares stripped him of his weapons.

'Get off me! She and her brother killed my sister along with those hunters! She's here to kill me as well!' Kayla got up brushing the dust off her clothes and looking at Nico with pity in her eyes. She couldn't imagine what it would be like to lost someone who you always had looked up to your whole life, the one who had stood up for you and protected you.

'Nico… We didn't kill your sister; she gave her life to protect us! She is a hero!' Kayla tried to tell Nico but he refused to believe it. He struggled to get up, however Eurytion's foot was planet on his back firmly so he wasn't going anywhere.

'I can't trust you! Percy made me a promise he would keep her safe and he broke it! He let her die!' Nico protested. Kayla could feel the hurt in his voice, he cared so much for his sister, and she meant the world to him. Kayla remembered how Nico was back at camp before his sister went on the quest. He was this little innocent boy who smiled and enjoyed everything around him.

Looking at him now, it was like looking at someone who had dragged themselves through the depths of Tartarus and back again. Like someone who had pulled themselves out of the darkest foulest place on earth. He looked grown up and ready to kill anyone in his path is what his eyes showed.

'Mr Di Angelo, I would advise you to stay well-mannered around the boss, he does not tolerate misbehavior as well as I do.' Eurytion said as he looked at the other man who seemed to have three bodies and one head. The man smiled as he closed his eyes.

'Thank you Eurytion, you may leave and resume your daily duties. I have everything under control here.' Geryon said. Eurytion grumbled as he spared a quick glance at Kayla and left the house. Geryon turned to the two demigods as Nico stood up and dusted his clothes. His face was emotionless as he stared at Kayla, studying her; his eyes didn't portray as much hate as last time. His eyes narrowed as Geryon began to speak.

'You two can stay here and deal with whatever little disagreement you have. Then when you're done, you will go to your rooms for the night. There are two spare beds just down the hall way.' Geryon said smiling evilly as he shut the door, sealing the two demigods in the room.

There was silence as the two just stared at each other. Kayla wasn't sure what to feel, Nico was still just a twelve year old, but he seemed much older, he almost looked fourteen or fifthteen just by the way he stared at her with absolute distaste.

'Tell me the truth, what happened to my sister. How did she die, I want to know and you're going to tell me.' Nico said as the room around them got darker as the shadows seemed to extend and wrap around him. Kayla frowned.

'If you're trying to intimidate me with your power, it's not going to work. If seen much worse, but I will tell you what exactly happened to Bianca.' She said. The shadows around Nico seemed to sink back into the floor as the room slightly got lighter.

'Sorry… I have trouble controlling my power when I'm angry.' Nico said emotionlessly. Kayla sighed as she recalled the events of Bianca's sacrifice, as she started to recall the events of Talos and how they couldn't fight the large automation with weapons. Kayla told Nico that Bianca had accidentally activated the automation when she picked up a statue or a figurine from the mythological game he use to play.

She told him that Bianca had actually saved her from being cut in half by Talos as Bianca bravely tore Talos apart from the inside. Nico held back tears as Kayla told him Talos was covered in electricity, burst into flames and exploded. It would have been a painful agonizing death for the brave huntress.

'The person who took it the death the hardest, was Percy… he searched for her, ripped apart every single metal part there was to the automation looking for her. He wouldn't give up, but we found no body…' Kayla said, tears brimming on the edges of her eyes. Nico was breathing heavily as he started to pace the lounge area they were in. He turned to Kayla, a few tears dropping from his eyes.

'If that really is the truth, then swear everything you had just said on the Styx.' He said. Kayla eye's just widened; he really was desperate for the truth.

'I swear on the Styx that everything I just said is one hundred per cent true.' Kayla said. Instantly Nico dropped to his knees and broke down in a flood of tears. In truth, it was really him that killed her, he killed his own sister. The stupid Mythology game he was obsessed with, Bianca had been thinking about him at the time, and it had cost her, her life.

Nico pounded the floor with his fists, causing small cracks the leaked black smoke. The little twelve year old boy had finally surfaced as Kayla just watched. As she tried to approach him he looked at her, his eyes buffing red and wet with tears.

'Stop! Just… don't, okay? I need some time…' Nico sobbed as he walked off into another room leaving Kayla alone. Kayla closed her eyes as she sat down on a sofa chair as she closed her eyes and put her hands to her head. The feelings of Bianca's death resurfacing once again to haunt her, if only at the time she knew she could have denied her fate… maybe things would be different…

'**_Do not grieve over the past… it is a large flaw for the bearer of the fates symbol of power. You must look forward, towards the future and continue follow it._**' Choice said in her mind. His voice sounded just like Percy's, it made her feel safe and happy. She just wanted to see her brother and her friends again, but Nico needed someone right now. She had to help him, it wasn't fair for a twelve year old to have to cope with death at such an early age, but really… at the time of Bianca's death, no one was ready for it… it just happened, hitting them like an atomic bomb. It just destroyed her heart just thinking about it.

After a few hours, Kayla just couldn't sit around anymore; she had to find Nico to make sure he was okay. Hopefully he hadn't run off again. She walked outside and found him on the found porch sitting it the sunlight looking at an old picture of him and Bianca when they were young. The picture was in black in white, made sense since they were born a long time ago.

She sat down next to him as he peered at her out of the corner of his eye. He was sad, his eyes had stopped tearing as he looked and her and swallowed.

'I'm sorry… I shouldn't have over reacted when you guys returned. I just didn't know what to do… Percy said he would protect her and I trusted him… he was like my second hero, and then he came back without her. I-I felt betrayed.' Nico admitted, Kayla sighed, it wasn't like she was in a situation a few years ago with her father.

'Nico, I understand how you feel. I know how it feels to have your trust shatter with someone you looked up to. It feels like a slap to the face or someone tearing your heart apart from the inside out. I don't blame you for running away, because I did the same thing when I was twelve…' Kayla told him. Nico seemed to stare at her in wonder. Kayla chuckled a little bit.

'You see, my father told me a lie that I believe to be true. He told me my mother was killed, and I had no idea I had a brother. When I found out, I felt so angry, broken, I felt like my trust was misplaced and I could feel it shatter. So I ran away, so far away where my father couldn't reach me. At the time I was so young I didn't exactly understand and know how dangerous it was to be out of the protection of your family for so long.' Kayla said. Nico seemed to smile a little bit.

'Where did you go?' He asked, he was so interest in the story. Kayla seemed to think he would be able to relate. In a way, he could but he didn't exactly run away to the place where monsters ran wild and where the gods had no power.

'I went to a place where I never should have gone. I made very bad decisions and it cost me a part of me that I'm not entirely sure I should be grateful or resentful for…' Kayla said. She had accepted her curse, turned it into a weapon, but if she could go back, she would, being the carrier of the fates symbol of power made you a target for future potential enemies. Nico sighed.

'I see, I guess we kind of had a similar problem. I'm still not totally convinced I can trust Percy again. I don't really like the hunters though, especially Zoe, she was one of the ones that took Bianca with her on that quest.' Nico grumbled. Kayla sighed, he had a right to dislike Zoe, she had handpicked Bianca for the quest, fully convinced it was a way for Bianca to prove herself, but the prophecy could have meant anyone, it just so happened to be Bianca.

'I should let you know that I'm following a plan to help revive my sister. It's a soul for soul trade, I'm looking for Daedalus, he's been cheating death for a millennia and it's my only chance of getting her back.' Nico continued. Kayla seemed surprised but yet a little sceptical.

'You're a son of Hades right? Haven't you talked to her ghost to see if she's okay with this?' Kayla asked. Nico grumbled, obviously something he wasn't too happy about.

'She doesn't answer me when I summon the dead. I call forth different ghosts but she never comes… it's only old dead hero's or dead bad people that give me bad advice though my mentor helps me out, though I'm worried of his true intentions. Whenever he talks to me, I get this feeling that he's just using me to get something he wants.' Nico said. Kayla thought about this, maybe Bianca didn't want to see her brother, but why not?

'Why don't we try and summon her now?' Kayla suggested. Nico shook his head.

'I can't, it has to be done at a full moon and that's tomorrow night. Maybe with you here she might actually answer me… Though I don't see why she hasn't already.' Nico sulked. Kayla sighed and put her arm around the shoulders of the prince of the underworld, he was only twelve and he was walking down the same path Kayla had when she was twelve. She wouldn't let Nico make any more bad decisions that could possibly put his life in danger.

'I'm sure she'll answer you… We also need to find my brother so we can get you back to camp.' Kayla said with a smile however Nico shook his head violently.

'No! I am not going back to that camp; I hate it there, I rather the shadows or the underworld where my father is.' Nico protested. Kayla seemed shocked; he had spent time with his father, the lord of the underworld! She wondered where he got that sword from and learnt how to use his powers.

'Okay... Would you like to come with me then to help me find my brother who is now most likely looking for me and you at the same time? He's been obsessed with finding you ever since you left, I'm sure it would be nice to let him know you are okay.' Kayla said. Nico spared a smile.

'Maybe, I'm not sure if I'm ready to face him yet. For the time being, I'm going to stay here until I can summon the dead again, if she still doesn't answer, I'm heading back into the Labyrinth.' Nico said.

'Okay, then I'm staying with you.' Kayla said smiling at Nico. Nico just sighed and spared another small smile. Kayla could even see the small innocent boy again when he smiled, even if it was only brief.

-Line Break-

Slowly and ever so silently, the four demigods plus a clumsy satyr slowly proceeded through Alcatraz opening doors and walking through different cell blocks. In every second cell, lay a sleeping monster whether it was a hell-hound, gorgon or some dead demigods who had been captured and left to die in the cells next to other monsters.

As the group continued in one direction, Grover pleaded they turn back as the scent of an extremely powerful monster was standing just up ahead of them. As they opened the last door, they saw what Grover was trying to keep them from finding.

Up on the balcony that stood on dragon legs and had the hair of snakes like Medusa stood the scariest monster hybrid ever known to demigod kind. The infamous jailer known as Kampe stood atop of the balcony overlooking the prison yard like a warden looking over its subjects.

Zoe gawked at the sight of Kampe. The last Zoe had ever seen of her, she was blasted into the darkest depths of Tartarus, forbidden ever to surface or show her ugly face on the surface world ever again. The sign that Kampe was here made Zoe quite scared of what other monstrosities had been freed from Tartarus and released upon the world to hunt and kill again.

'This is very _bad_.' Zoe whispered as they all hid behind a pile of boxes out of the view of Kampe. Grover was busy having a panic attack as he too remembers the legends of Kampe and how cruel and unforgiving she was, her poison blades where an instant kill if they were to ever get in a slice on you. Kampe was truly the queen of pain and torture.

'How do we get past her?' Percy asked. All the way on the other side of the yard, under the cover of the night sky was a glowing tri-force symbol, another entrance to the Labyrinth. They all looked stuck, trying to think of possible plans, but they all knew a confrontation with Kampe would lead to someone dying, or more than one person dying.

'I got nothing.' Thalia said shrugging her shoulders. Percy frowned, he wondered just how powerful Kampe was.

'Zoe, just how powerful is Kampe? Wouldn't we all take her on together? Surely we can do it if we work together?' Percy suggested. Zoe frowned.

'Of course we could take her on if we battled together, but keep in mind that we did just past at least more than a hundred different monsters all asleep in their _open _cells.' Zoe reminded Percy. He slumped back and sighed.

'Well where not going to get anywhere sitting here…' He said. Just as he said that, the group started to hear a sound, the sound of crying or sobbing. The group slowly turned to the direction of the noise to find a strange looking monster sitting in the corner of his cell. He was covered in dried blood, obviously his own blood. This monster made every one's eyes widened, especially Zoe's. This monster hand at least one hundred arms all over his body. Some hands where playing rock paper scissors, others were playing mercy, while the others were just waving around.

'It's a hundred handed one… but they faded a long time ago, what's this one still doing here?' Annabeth whispered. Zoe silently crawled over to the steel cage it was in and silently slashed at the bars, melting them. The monster took notice and hid behind his hands. Zoe entered first, and then Percy followed by Thalia, Annabeth and Grover.

'Percy, hundred handed ones are the ancestors of the Cyclops, see if you can talk to him.' Zoe urged. Percy approached hesitantly and crouched in front of the hundred handed one. It regarded Percy by looking at him through his red eyes.

'You… a son of Poseidon… brother to the Cyclops, why have you come here?' It said sadly a couple of its hands poking Percy. Percy sighed, he wasn't good at this type of stuff, but he managed to do it when Kayla was upset on occasions.

'My names Percy, I have a Cyclops brother called Tyson… He is like a brother to you right?' Percy asked. The hundred handed one seemed to perk up a bit as most of his hands wiped away some of the tears as he turned to face Percy fully.

'I-I am Briares the hundred handed one.' He replied. Percy smiled, he didn't want to have a chat, they needed to get out of here fast as the more time they spent here, and the more likely they would be caught. Zoe and Thalia had notched arrows pointing at the entrance to make sure that if any monster came strolling by, they would pick them off before they could even make a sound.

'Okay listen, we need your help so I'm going to propose a deal for you. You help us get past that dragon snake lady Kampe up there, and I'll help you to get to get to the sea and into my father's domain where it is safe.' Percy said as he looked at Briares. Briares eyes seemed to narrow as he started to think. At least half of his hands formed fists as his eyes narrowed even further.

'I hate it here, Kampe is strong, but she will not stop us. I accept your deal little Percy.' Briares said as he stood up and grew a little.

'_Little Percy? Jeez that's a little rude…' _Percy thought to himself. Zoe smiled as she turned to see Briares standing on his feet looking ready for a fight.

'_Other's I have crossed have lost their will to live and fight. In the first Titan war, the hundred handed ones use to be as tall as mountains, but now since most have faded, they have lost the majority of their power, looks like this one wants to continue living.'_ Zoe thought.

In the next few minutes, the group plus Briares made a break for the Labyrinth, sprinting across the grounds only to be stopped as Kampe landed with a thud before them. However before she could say anything or even draw her blades. Briares lunged forward, growing a little higher and proceeded to make Kampe his own personal punching bag.

'Go!' He said as he continued the onslaught on Kampe. The group ran towards the glowing symbol and the Labyrinth door opened as the group ran in. Zoe and Thalia provided cover fire as Briares stopped and ran towards the entrance. Kampe stood no chance towards such a pre-planned tactic and paid the price by missing her chance to capture the demigods along with the hundred handed one who she had been torturing for a long time.

The Labyrinth door closed on her as she rammed into it, causing the tunnel on the other side to shake violently, however the group was on longer on the other side, they had already proceeded deep into the maze, far away from Kampe. Her hisses and wails could be heard for miles as she screamed in anger for letting demigods escape her clutches, she would have her revenge.

After a few minutes of running, the group stopped as Briares halted and smiled at Percy.

'Thank you for giving me strength and a purpose again. I'm afraid this is where I part with you; I wish you luck on wherever you are heading. I will see you again, young son of Poseidon.' Briares said as he ran down another tunnel leading somewhere where the group had no idea where it went.

'We need to keep moving.' Annabeth said as she continued walking. Percy was quite happy, knowing his brother was going to be gaining a really good friend. A hundred handed one would be really helpful to have on their side in the war to come. His father would be happy that an ancestor of the Cyclops will be returning to the world once more to fight for the gods.

As the group continued forward, the walked into a room where there were countless waterfalls falling into the darkness below them. A path around the left side of the hole lead to another tunnel, however the power they felt coming from the bottom of the pit gave the heroes and heroines an awful chill to their blood.

'It's a pit leading to Tartarus…' Thalia said in realization. Zoe seemed nervous.

'I told you the Labyrinth tends to end up in the strangest places. We are now at the entrance of Tartarus. Whatever you do, _watch your step._' Zoe said it almost like an order, like to say "Don't fall off or I'll jump down there after you and kill you".

As the group climbed around the side of the pit, they got horrible vibes from the pit. It felt like there were hands extending up from the pit to grab them, but when they would turn their heads they would only find water falling down into the dark pit of hell itself.

'We are not camping here. I refuse to be anywhere close to where the Titans were being kept for thousands of years.' Thalia said. They all agreed as they continued down another tunnel. It wasn't long until they got so tired they actually dropped decided that enough was enough. The tunnel they were currently in was a black marble sort of material. It was really freezing however, despite the chill in the air, Zoe, Thalia and Grover dropped into a sleep while Percy and Annabeth couldn't sleep. They sat next to each other both taking watch.

'I'm worried Annabeth, I don't know if we will find Kayla, I hope so, but I'm also worried about Nico. I keep getting these dreams and Iris messages of him summoning the dead. He's trying to find a way to bring Bianca back from the dead and he's convinced that a soul for soul trade will suffice, but he needs a soul that's cheated death, or that has avoided death for a very long time.' Percy said. Annabeth gave him a hug as she laid her head on his shoulder.

'Don't worry Seaweed Brain, we will find Kayla, just like how you found me. It's just a matter of time; Kayla will be fine, I'm sure she will.' Annabeth said smiling. Her smile gave Percy reassurance and hope.

'As for Nico, that business about a soul for soul trade sounds risky. We need to find him and stop it before he does something that's going to get him killed.' Annabeth continued. The subject of Nico was a risky one. He was a son of Hades, and since Kronos and the rest of the enemy didn't know about him, he was more of a wild card but a card that seemed to be not currently on their side, but closer to the other from what they last knew of Nico.

Annabeth decided that Percy needed some sleep and told him to go and get some sleep before he actually passed out. He listened to her and went to sleep, just in time for Zoe to wake up and trade places with Annabeth for her to get some sleep. Being a hunter and all, sleep was less needed with the immortality bonus, made you more alert but she had to admit, being down here in the Labyrinth was one of the hardest things she had done in the past two thousand years of her semi-immortal life.

Zoe sat down next to a wall and pulled out her bow and an arrow, keeping the arrow on the string, ready to shoot anything the even came close to them. Her sharp senses let her feel vibrations through the floor and her hunting abilities would allow her to track for days on end without stopping, but time in the Labyrinth seemed to skip to a whole new level. They had traveled from New York, to California to Alcatraz all in one day! It would take her at least a week to do that with the hunt and Artemis.

The Labyrinth was a means of shorter travel, but it's also at least twenty times more risky and impossible to navigate without proper means to do so. The monsters down here were ancient and deadly. They were so old that they should have faded; even Zoe hadn't ever seen the Basilisk in her early days of the hunt. It was a creature that roamed the world when the Titans still ruled.

Soon dawn broke in the dark tunnel when everyone's body clocks hit seven. They couldn't tell since it was so dark in the tunnel but they had to get up or keep moving, otherwise something down here would find them, and knowing what they had encountered so far, it wouldn't hesitate to kill them on sight.

As the group got up and had breakfast that consisted of breakfast bars and juice boxes they continued forward as usual with absolutely no idea where they were going. They continued down a couple of tunnels when Grover stopped and looked down and examined the ground.

'Guys… look at this.' Grover said as he looked down at the floor. The group gathered around Grover as they saw what he was looking at. It was little patches of dried blood on the stone floor. Zoe smiled, she remembered a long time ago, when she first progressed to Lieutenant of the hunters, Artemis had taught her a special ability that allowed her to touch and identify the blood type and who it exactly belonged to. It was an incredible skill to have learned, it increased her hunting skills to a whole new level. She hadn't really got a chance to test it out much but now that was about to change.

Zoe bent over and touched the spot of blood for a brief moment as she examined its properties. It was strange; the blood was the blood of a child of Poseidon…

'Zoe, what are you doing?' Thalia questioned, Zoe looked up at her and smiled.

'A special skill taught to me by milady, I can examine blood and find out who and what it belongs to. Very complicated to learn but comes in handy a lot when you're trying to find something.' Zoe said. Annabeth raised an eyebrow.

'What, like you have an internal DNA scanner or something?' Zoe chuckled a little.

'Yea I guess you could kind of say that-' Zoe froze as she managed to decode who the blood belonged to. The others picked up on her expression and frowned.

'What's wrong Zoe?' Percy asked. Zoe's head spun in all directions, looking towards every single tunnel. She couldn't believe it, of all the possibilities, the blood belonged to Kayla! Zoe turned to Percy as she realized just what this meant.

'Guys, you're not going to believe this, but the blood belongs to Kayla.' All of their eyes widened.

'She escaped!?' Thalia exclaimed. However the one who was most shocked was Percy. He was feeling so many emotions, he was happy she had escaped from that bastard Kronos and Luke, but now he was even more worried because she was or still is down here by herself, all alone…

'Kayla's down here somewhere…' Percy muttered. Thalia seemed to gather more hope by the second.

'Do you guys know what this means?! This is her blood! She's still alive and she's on the run!'

'The bloods only a day old, and a day down here means she could be anywhere.' Zoe reminded Thalia. Thalia seemed to deflate of her hope, feeling crushed. They all stood around in silence just hoping that Kayla was okay. Then Zoe seemed to pick up on something, it wasn't the only blood spot on the floor.

There was a trail of blood leading down one of the tunnels.

'Follow me, I've got her trail!' Zoe said as she began walking off down the tunnel holding one of the flashlights. The others followed in pursuit, however Grover could smell something, and it smelt similar to a monster but a lot more heaver and diluted. He turned around to see in the distance in the tunnel directly opposite the one they had taken, three figures, they seemed to be tall white humanoids with large appendages sprouting from their backs. One of the appendages seemed to have been cut off or sliced off by _something_.

Grover was routed to the spot, but then he blinked and the figures were gone. They had vanished into thin air. Disappeared along with the smell, Grover sighed, thinking it was just another fragment of his crazy imagination.

'_Man I think I'm going crazy…'_ Grover thought as he caught up with the group.

After a while of following the blood trail of Percy's sister, they had to turn into a few different tunnels until they turned into one that towards the end, forced them to crawl through. As they crawled through they ended up under a piece of cattle grid. Grover groaned.

'Aw man, I hate those things… The number of times Conner and Travis have put those things up around camp in areas that don't even need them is enough to make me hate those things.' Grover muttered. Percy and Thalia raised an eyebrow.

'Trust me, if you had hooves, you would hate them with a vengeance too.' Grover said, replying to the looks they were giving him.

As the group pushed their way out of the cattle gird they found themselves on a farm with red cows. Zoe instantly spat with distaste.

'Sacred cows of Apollo, oh I have the sudden urge to slaughter them all!' Zoe grinned evilly, itching towards her arrows. However she was stopped by two large greyhounds that jumped in front of her, barking and growling.

Everyone summoned their weapons, ready to fight but was stopped by a larger man who stood in the middle of the two dogs that were growling. The dogs instantly stopped and sat down with their tongues hanging out as if they had done a good job.

'What do we have here? More new comers… this is getting quite repetitive. The ranch is not a hotel where you little demigods can come and go. You should leave now and go back to where you came; we're already full on _house guests_.' Eurytion said.

Suddenly his eye caught sight of the black haired boy standing in the group. He looked so much like Kayla that the two could be mistaken as twins, except for the obvious gender difference. Eurytion decided to question this.

'Hey… you there…' Eurytion said pointing towards Percy.

'Me?' Percy said innocently. Eurytion sighed.

'Yes, you, what's your name and your godly parent?' He asked. Percy frowned.

'What's it to you?' He asked. Eurytion growled.

'You do not ask the questions here, I do. Now answer me. What is your name and your godly parent.' He asked again. Percy turned to the group. Annabeth mouthed "Tell him" as Percy looked back at the son of Ares.

'Percy Jackson, I'm a son of Poseidon.' Percy said. Just as he thought, the brother of Kayla who was currently staying just up the hill inside the ranch. What a surprise…

'Well, Mr Jackson, It seems that you and your friends have just stumbled out of the Labyrinth, just like the last two that appeared her not to long ago.

'Could you tell us their names?' Annabeth asked. Eurytion smiled. Just by looking at her, and her stormy grey eyes, it was obvious this girl was a daughter of Athena, another little brain child.

'How about… you come see for yourself?' He said as he turned and started to walk back to the ranch. The group of demigods plus the satyr were a little hesitant. Things like this often led to a trap, but the coincidence that two demigods ended up here not too long ago and they were following Kayla's blood trail that the evidence seemed to hard.

Percy could feel it now; his sister was close along with another darker force. He just hoped she was okay.

Without any more thoughts, Percy followed right behind Eurytion, determined to find out what he was hiding, whether it was a trap waiting to be sprung and have them captured or whether he was telling the truth.

Trust is a hard thing to come by in the world of demigods, especially when your life depends on it but Percy didn't care, he wasn't sure if he trusted this guy or not, but one thing was for sure. He was going up to that ranch, trap… or no trap. It didn't matter; all he wanted was to find his sister and to find Nico.

-Line Break-

A/N: And that's another chapter done. So yeah, updates will come a little slower as I am now up to writing each chapter as I go now. Sorry if this chapters seems badly written I was up late writing it but I feel like I did well.

Few things I would like to add, I have made Briares a little more better in the confidence part as he was one of my favorite monsters/things that featured in the book. I spell Kampe "Kampe" and not with that fancy little "e" that Zoe has as well.

I gave Nico a little bit more of a darker dangerous look about him, well I tried anyway. Zoe has a gotten a bit of a boost as to what her skills are and her little prize after killing the Basilisk. **If you guys have any cool ideas on hardcore dangerous and power Monsters that I could add to the story, feel free to do so and leave a review or PM me. I would be more than happy to put the monsters into my story.**

And on a side note, I actually got round to watching the Latest movie of the Percy Jackson Series. Yeah it was kinda good, definitely 1000 times better than the first one, but what really made me rip my hair out was the fact that Percy was given the great Prophecy then when he's suppose to get it in TLO, that kinda pissed more off a little. They also changed it from "Reach sixteen against all odds" to "Reach Twenty against all odds." Which I understand, I mean really, if you think about it, its kind of hard to get really good twelve year old actors.

Don't mention Harry Potter because they had twelve year olds in the first movie because... the first movie sucked :P. Go on, I dear you, go back and watch the first Harry Potter movie, i bet you, you will laugh your ass off at the terrible acting :P.

Thanks for reading guys and I'll see you next chapter! Coming up, _**Chapter Eight: The Creator of Madness**_


	9. Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight: Talking with a Dead Friend

As the group drew closer to the ranch, Percy's sword hand itched closer and closer to the celestial bronze sword that lay in his pocket. Annabeth's eyes were darting around, looking for any possible sign that they could be walking into a trap, but everything seemed peaceful and natural. Zoe and Thalia walked together behind Percy and Annabeth, ready to un-shoulder their bows or draw there knifes ready to fend off any sort of monster. Grover was carefully sniffing the air to check if there were any monsters in hiding.

As the group followed Eurytion onto the porch, Eurytion stopped them and turned around, his gaze hardening.

'Now, don't break any rules… and don't make comments about boss's appearance.' Eurytion stated as he continued walking. After a few more meters, a man opened the door, revealing his biological defying body. Percy couldn't help but star at this man, he had one head, but he had at least three bodies, his left and right arm had grown out of his left and right chests.

'Uhh,' Percy said as he struggled to find the words, however Zoe nudged him, shutting him up. He looked back and smiled, shrugging at the same time. Zoe just huffed and moved past him.

'What do we have here? More demigods? How fortunate…' The man said with a questionable smile. Instantly all the danger instincts in the group kicked in and they all became automatically wary of the strange looking man.

'Say hello to Mr Geryon…' Eurytion mumbled.

'Hi.' Percy and Annabeth said at once. They turned to each other before Thalia coughed, making the two demigods turn back to the matter at hand.

'Nice ranch you have here…' Percy started, but before Geryon could respond, Nico came through some glass doors looking a little angry.

'Geryon… I've had enough of this, I will not wait for-' Nico stopped as he saw the group of demigods standing in on the porch of the house. Nico felt so confused when he saw Percy and all the others. He and Kayla were talking about them only a few hours ago…

'Well… this is convenient isn't it?' Nico muttered, confusing the group; however another voice sounded behind him.

'What's convenient?' the voice said coming into view. Kayla walked into view to see her brother, Zoe, Thalia, Annabeth and Grover standing on the porch. Percy's eyes widened as well as the rest of the groups when they saw both Nico and Kayla in the same place.

'Percy?'

'Kayla?'

Before anyone knew it, the two were already embracing each other in a hug. They both sunk to their knees as Kayla began to cry. Percy held her so tight; he was never going to let her out of his sight again. Another enemy to touch her was going to lose their life, no questions about it, no mercy.

'Are you okay? Did they hurt you?' Percy whispered. She just nodded as she stayed in Percy's arms. She was back with her brother, things felt like they were back to normal. Percy caught the eyes of Nico. He looked sad and jealous; the fact that his sister was dead and Percy's sister was okay probably made him sickened and angry.

'Nico… I-' Percy started before he was cut off by Nico who just simply turned his back and started to walk away.

'Don't worry; I'm not angry with you… Kayla told me the truth, what really happened to her. I was just angry at the time, but it will soon be corrected as I will bring her back.' Nico said. Percy felt confused, he thought Nico was going to try and use his soul for the trade for Bianca's but then it suddenly clicked…

A soul trade…

The Labyrinth…

Someone who has cheated death…

It was Daedalus' soul he was after, not his.

Percy breathed a sigh of relief as now he knew Nico wasn't trying to kill him anymore, but that still didn't make it okay. When Percy looked at Nico, he looked broken and destroyed emotionally.

'_What did that kid do to himself?'_ Percy thought as he released Kayla from his grasp. However, as if just hearing it Zoe stepped in, her face stuck with concern.

'A soul trade!? What is he thinking! That is an incredibly dangerous process!' She hissed, before anyone could answer, Geryon stepped in with a bored look on his face.

'How would you kids like a tour of the ranch?' He asked with a menacing smile as he began to walk away. Percy grumbled as he got up and started to follow along with everyone else.

The tour of the ranch was done on a train ride sort of thing which you would ride on a public farm to do sight-seeing. You would go around in a circle on a small little train where you could look out the window and take photos and such.

Nico sat at the back with Thalia as she tried and tried to get Nico to talk, but only got a few mumbles out of him. Zoe sat in front of Thalia, being near Nico hurt her heart. She got a vibe that Nico didn't exactly like her, especially when she hand-picked Bianca and got her killed. As much as Zoe hated boys, she just couldn't look at Nico as it made her feel so guilty and heartbroken. Looking at Nico was like looking at Bianca's dead ghost. The kid had looked like he had gone through hell and Tartarus because of what Zoe did.

Next to Zoe was Grover who sat nervously but was quite happy as he viewed all the animals and the fresh nature that lay on the farm. However he didn't exactly like how all the animals were stuck in pens and were forced to live in farms.

Kayla, Annabeth and Percy sat together in the middle as Geryon and Eurytion sat at the front. Kayla told Percy everything that happened to her, though she left out the part with Luke and the monster beatings. She didn't want to tell him about Luke as her brother had already so many reasons to kill Luke but Luke wasn't a bad person, he was a misunderstood person who had made the wrong decision and now has to carry it through… until the end of his days. She had also told him about the strange creatures she had encountered in the Labyrinth which Grover managed to eaves drop in on and also made his blood chill as he could have sworn that he saw those creatures as they were coming out.

As the little tour continued, they passed over a hill where all these different animals lay in different pens. Geryon smiled and turned to the group out of the corner of his eye.

'We have a very large operation here… cattle, horses, but also some very rare exotic varieties as well!' He boasted. Annabeth turned to a pen and widened her eyes at what she saw.

'Are those Hippalektryons? There's no way, their supposed to be extinct!' Annabeth gasped as she examined them from afar. Geryon chuckled.

'They lay eggs once a year… their omelettes are one of a kind…' Geryon chuckled. Grover went a little green and held his stomach, trying not to puke. Zoe rolled her eyes, she was a hunter, but she could understand why Grover felt like that. Satyr's are connected to nature and all animals, and could sometimes understand what their thinking.

'I'm not sure whether to be disgusted or angry…' Grover murmured to Zoe. Zoe huffed.

'Think about something else then!' Zoe growled. Grover nodded and closed his eyes; however his attempt to think about something else was shattered as Geryon remembered something else about the sickening topic.

'They are also much better than regular omelettes!' Geryon said. Grover put a hand over his mouth.

'Pull over… I think I'm going to be sick!'

After making a short pit stop for the sickened satyr, they continued on as they passed the fields where the red cattle stood eating grass and lying down and sleeping. The whole group including Nico and Kayla's eyes widened as they saw just how many red cows there were.

'T-There's at least over five thousand here! What are they all for!?' Grover said almost regretting asking the question. Geryon turned to the satyr and smiled.

'Since Apollo doesn't visit them anymore, he contracts with me so I take care of them.' Geryon explained.

'But why so many?' Thalia asked, joining the convocation.

'Such high demand for them of course, I am a number one supplier.' Geryon said. Zoe became a little angry, it was like Geryon was trying to avoid giving the real reason for having so many.

'Why the high demand? What purpose do they serve?' Zoe asked. Geryon simply smiled and turned back and continued driving.

'Meat of course! Armies need their food, otherwise they will all die out and they wouldn't be able to fight…' Geryon said. Instead of feeling sick, Grover felt angry as his face went red.

'You kill the sacred cow of the sun god for hamburgers!? T-That's sick… a-and twisted! It's also against ancient laws!' Grover protested. Geryon chuckled.

'Oh don't get so worked up over it little satyr, it's all good business, gold is gold, I work for the highest bidder after all.' Geryon said with a smiled. Zoe and Thalia growled. This was the type of male Artemis preached to them to hate and avoid. Monster or not, these males were scum, and needed to be wiped out.

Over the next ridge made Percy even more suspicious to what was really going on here. The name "Triple G Ranch", he could have sworn he had seen it somewhere. The next ridge gave him that answer. Behind some very sharp steel barb wire, where the black scaled scorpions, the ones that Quintus had set loose in the forest that one night, the night he and Annabeth stumbled into the Labyrinth.

'Triple G Ranch… those crates at camp came from here! Quintus got his scorpions from you!' Percy said suddenly realizing the fact. Geryon turned around raising an eyebrow.

'Quintus… Hmm, short grey hair? Muscular swordsman?' Geryon asked. Percy nodded.

'Never heard of him.' Geryon concluded. Percy's mouth dropped open but before he could response, he was forced to block his nose along with everyone else by the toxic smell that came from the stables they were approaching. It was so horrible it made all the demigods eyes water, even Nico had to admit, rotten corpses and the dead smelt better than this.

It was the size of a football field of disgusting horse dung. The horses stood in their own excess waste and the sight of it was beyond anything anyone could even begin to describe.

'Oh my gods… why would you… Yuk! That's disgusting, why haven't you cleaned all this!' Thalia cried as she tried to block out the smell. Zoe had stuffed her face in her shirt to escape a smell so bad she hadn't even smelt something this bad in her entire immortal life.

Percy and Kayla felt sorry for the horses; they couldn't _imagine_ what they were thinking. The two siblings of the sea turned to Geryon with disgusted looks as the horses were a creation of their father's and having them live in these conditions was an insult, however Geryon looked grim as he turned to the group with a bored look.

'These, are flesh eating horses. They like to live in these conditions… We can never get close enough to clean the stables unfortunately…' Geryon said. Eurytion snorted as he looked at Geryon out of the corner of his eye.

'You mean you can't afford to pay for a cleaner…' Geryon went red with anger as he turned to Eurytion.

'Silence! Whatever the conditions maybe, my clients still pay me well…' He said. Percy snarled.

'What kinds of clients are paying you?' He asked. Geryon grinned, the type of grin that made everyone feel uneasy and worried.

'You'd be surprised what kind of people would want flesh-eating horses. They rent out quite often… They terrify most people, great why to dispose of garbage…' He said. The hairs on the back of Percy's neck started to stick up at the way this guy was talking.

'You're a monster.' Annabeth said narrowing her eyes at the man. Geryon burst out laughing while everyone else remained quiet.

'What gave it away? Was it the three bodies? O-Or was it the fact I my arms come out of my left and right chests?' Geryon said putting a hand to his forehead and wiping away some sweat as he stopped laughing.

'You work for Kronos don't you?' Zoe said summing up what everyone else was thinking by now. Geryon rolled his eyes and shrugged, which looked quite odd since he had three sets of shoulders. It was like a Mexican wave.

'Well, what are you going to do? I'm an honest trader, can't kill me for doing business with the highest price right? It's what we do! Bad or good, it doesn't matter, we go for the people who offer the highest price, and it's that simple.' Geryon said. Nico growled as he stepped out of the moo-mobile and walked over to Geryon looking angry.

'Look, I don't have all the time in the world, my ghost said you could help us by guiding us to the right soul, can you help me or not!?' Zoe seemed suspicious about this ghost that Nico claimed to have guiding him and giving him advice.

'Who is this ghost you are taking advice from?' Zoe asked. Nico turned and looked at her with hatred burning in his eyes.

'None of your business!' He stated calmly as possible though it sounded like a threat. Instead of retorting like Zoe would have, she remained silent. Thalia looked at Zoe as if she was sick with the flu or something. Zoe would have killed any male that ever spoke to her like that in an instant but Zoe looked more sad and guilty than angry.

'_He has every right to be angry at me. I brought his sister on a quest that grantee her death… and yet I was supposed to die as well, but Kayla saved me. How unfair is that? I live and she dies when we were both destined to die…'_ Zoe thought to herself.

Geryon smiled, and sighed, this little son of Hades was incredibly easy to read.

'I see, Minos's does seem to like to disappear and reappear when things get difficult, what a pity, doing business with him would have been a large pleasure indeed…' He said. Zoe was brought out of her thoughts by that name, dismissing Nico's hatred for her, she could not let him fall prey to that mans twisted revengeful plans.

'Nico! You cannot listen to that ghost! That man is the most deceitful twisted, scum to ever have walked this planet! All he cares about is himself and his revenge on Daedalus, I knew that soul for soul trade was odd but since it was Minos's idea, he's got a way to double cross you! He care's not for you and your sister, he would see you two rot in the depths of the fields of punishment! Please for the sake of Bianca, stop listening to him!' Zoe warned. Nico was caught off guard by this warning as everyone turned to Zoe. She was breathing hard as Nico looked at her funny.

'How would you know?' He snarled. Zoe growled.

'Listen _boy_, I maybe have got your sister killed by taking her on that quest. I take full responsibility for that action and I am ready to accept the punishment when I die for making such a stupid mistake, but I have lived a long two thousand years and I have never come across a man who's been so caught up in his own revenge to care for others in my entire life. Even in death he continues to find ways to exact his revenge. He just doesn't know when enough is enough; he refuses to understand the meaning of loss!' Zoe explained.

'Well this is interesting, I bet Luke Castellan well offer a payday's worth for you lot…' Geryon smiled. Percy instantly drew Riptide but before anyone else could draw their weapons, Eurytion pulled a club out as well as a sword, and the two greyhounds pounced up, growling at the demigods making them all hesitant to even touch their weapons.

'Now, now, don't be so hasty… Since the tour is over, we should head back to the ranch house; have some lunch, send and Iris message to our Titan friends…' Thalia growled, her fists crackling with electricity.

'Sorry bub, not happening!' She stated angrily. Eurytion pointed the sharp end of his sword at her making her growl but lowering her electrical powers to a normal level. Percy was thinking quickly for ideas and he could see Kayla trying to think as well as Zoe. However Percy had an idea, but he wasn't sure it was the smartest one.

'Wait! Geryon, you're a business man right?' Percy asked. Geryon looked at Percy, wanting to see where this was going. Businessman intuition smelling a deal approaching, as his eyes looked at Percy, daring him to make a deal with him.

'Let's make a deal.' Percy said. Geryon smiled and then chuckled.

'But Mr Jackson, you have no gold, no money, what could you possibly have that I want?' Percy smiled.

'Who said anything about trading? I want to barter.' Percy said looking a Geryon with a devious manipulative smile. Geryon was intrigued by this sudden change, what could he be possibly be thinking?

'Go on…' He said. Percy smiled, hoping to the gods that Geryon would accept this barter.

'In exchange for the freedom of all my friends including Nico and my sister Kayla, I will clean you stables by sun down.' Percy stated. Everyone turned to Percy as if he were insane.

'If I don't finish, I as well as everyone here can be sold to Luke and Kronos's custody.' Percy finished. Zoe wanted to punch Percy in the face.

'What in the name of Hades are you thinking you stupid boy!' Zoe hissed. However Percy completely ignored her.

'Do we have a deal?' Percy asked looking at Geryon with a smile. Geryon was caught off guard by this deal, this was a win, win situation, he gets something either way, or whichever way this turns out. He smiled as he looked back at Percy.

'Well Mr Jackson, it seems you have a deal. If the muck has not been cleaned up by sun down, you and all of your friends here will be sold to the titans. However, since I am feeling a little generous, I will allow you one person to help you in this task, seems to me like it's more of a two person job if you ask me.' Geryon said.

'I'll help.' Kayla said going to her brother's side as she jumped out of the moo-mobile. Geryon chuckled, two children of Poseidon cleaning stables together. How very family-like of them.

'Very well, your time starts now.' Geryon said as he started up the moo-mobile again with everyone still on it. Annabeth eyed the two siblings and smiled.

'I hope you two know what you're doing.' Annabeth said. Zoe growled a little.

'Percy, since this was your stupid idea, if you fail, I'm going to kill you, just keep that in mind.' Zoe said as she waved back at a pale Percy.

As the moo-mobile drove off back to the ranch, it left the brother and sister of the sea behind to clean up a stables full of flesh eating horses. Kayla looked at Percy.

'This might be a little harder than it looks.' Percy just looked back and sighed.

'Well, were burning time, let's get started.'

-Line Break-

At first, the two didn't think it was going to be that hard, being the son and daughter of the sea, you'd think creatures that were created by their father would listen to them, however when the two saw the rows of razor sharp teeth on the horses, they felt like losing hope.

As the two got closer, Percy decided to speak up, getting the attention of all the horses.

'_Hello! I and my lovely sister here are going to clean your stables! Won't that be great?'_ Percy said sending the mental thought to all the horses. Some of the horses turned and looked hungry as they started to lick the outsides of their mouths and glare at the two children as if they were a walking meal.

'_Oh! Come on, come in! You two will taste good, tasty half-bloods.'_ One said as the others neighed in agreement. Percy shuddered.

'_But we are children of Poseidon… He created horses.' _Percy said. Now usually this would get you VIP treatment for both Percy and Kayla when it came to communicating with animals however this wasn't the case this time.

'_Poseidon can come in to! Mm, seafood, we haven't had seafood in years!'_ Another horse said. Kayla felt like puking while Percy just sighed and looked around for another means of cleaning the stables. Obviously communicating with the horses wasn't going to get them anywhere at this rate. Percy went over and picked up a rusty old shovel and scooped up a pile and threw it over the fence line.

'Are you kidding me? There's no way we are scooping this, there's at least four billion piles of crap.' Kayla said. Percy threw down the spade and sighed.

'I know, there just has to be a better way to do this. I remember how Hercules did this once, he used a river…' Percy said as he saw what he was talking about. About a kilometer downhill from the stables a peaceful little river sat just waiting to be used for a job like this.

'There we go, come on!' Percy said as he began to run towards the river. There had to more to that river, if the river was here the whole time, why hasn't the stables been cleaned out more often? That question was answered when they arrived to find a naiad standing in front of her river with an angry look on her face.

'Oh no you don't! Not my river, not again! I will be sick for years!' She said balling her fists ready for a fight. Kayla sighed as well as Percy.

'But we really need to-' Kayla started however this naiad was not going to listen to them.

'I don't care! I know who you two are, siblings of the sea. You demigods think your just sooo mighty that your all above just one little old naiad, well newsflash! This naiad is going to fight for her river!' She yelled. Percy sighed, it wasn't like him to blatantly ignore someone and use these things, and neither was Kayla. Another hope crushed as they both sat down on the river side together.

'Alright, you win.' Percy said as he leaned on his left hand trying to think of another way. The naiad seemed confused as she stumbled over her next words.

'Huh?- I mean yeah! You better know it!' She said trying to look brave and victorious. Kayla sighed.

'Look, we won't use your river but we are running out of time. We are going to be sold to the titans if we don't get the stables clean before sundown… do you have any ideas on how to get it done in time?' Kayla asked. The naiad seemed to feel sorry for them; they seemed like nice people so she decided to let them in on her little secret.

'Okay listen, we are all decedents of the sea somehow right? Part of our live is connected to the water in some way or another. Long ago, before the titans, when Gaea and Ouranos reigned over this world, this land was underwater; it was part of the sea.' She explained as she pointed to the dirt beneath them.

'Scoop up some dirt.' Percy looked at her strangely.

'Why?' He asked. The naiad snorted.

'Do you want help or not?' Percy just sighed as he scooped up the dirt in his hands. In amongst the black Texas soil, were little rocks or in Percy and Kayla's case, they were very old ancient sea urchins. Percy and Kayla just looked at them stupidly as if the naiad was playing some cruel joke on them.

'Okay… how are these going to help us?' Percy asked as he looked back at the naiad. She just looked at Percy as if he were some stupid alien who was new to the world. She sighed.

'Look, it's as I said, the water is within all of us. Wherever we go, we carry the water with us. That's all I'm going to tell you. I hope you save your friends.' She said before she jumped back into her river. Percy and Kayla both held at least ten shells in each hand, frustrated, hot and annoyed they walked back to the stables.

'What a joke, how are these supposed to help us!?' Percy said in frustration as he threw one shell into a pile of dung. He turned around and sighed in frustration, however there was another sound that sounded like a balloon being deflated. The two children of the turned to the pile of poop and titled their heads sideways as they couldn't believe what they were seeing.

In the middle of the dung, in the middle of a Texas ranch was a little sprout of water squirting out of the pile of dung. Kayla started to laugh stupidly as Percy just watched the little spout of water.

'No. Way.' He said as he approached the water, however stopped when the horses began to get closer to the water. One leaned down for a taste however it recoiled backwards in disgust.

'_Gross! Salty, make it stop!'_ The horse wailed. Percy gave a little chuckle as he threw the other shells into different piles of poop while Kayla did the same. At the same time, the two children of Poseidon willed the water pouring out of the little shells to get bigger and before you even knew it, you have around almost twenty large salty water fountains.

Using their control over water, the sea water curved in and around the large stables washing away and drowning the entire of the poop into the ground. The horses hated it and tried to attack the two children; however they were confined to their stables and couldn't get out. The horses resorted to pleading and crying to make them stop however the salty onslaught kept on going until the stables was completely clean.

With minimal effort, Percy and Kayla shut down the geysers as the horses were soaked, still running around in their stables in a panic. As they looked around the stables, the poop had melted into the ground and there was not a single piece of dung in sight. Percy sighed as he and Kayla fell to their knees laughing as the horses were moaning and crying.

'_Please! No more salty baths, we will be good flesh-eating horses! We swear!' _They all cried. Percy chuckled.

'On one condition…' He said.

'_Anything!'_ They said. Percy grinned as he began.

'You will only eat what is given to you by your handlers or Kayla and I will be back with a lot more than that, I promise you that.' Percy said as he turned to his sister, the cry of agreements echoing in the background.

'Let's head back and get our friends back.' Percy said smiling. Kayla nodded in agreement as they both walked side by side back to the ranch to get back their friends.

As the two approached the ranch, they smelt the lovely smell of a cooking barbecue and the smell of nice cooked meat but when the two got there, they found their friends bound and gagged and tossed in a corner while Geryon was cooking and Eurytion was just sitting around with his greyhounds next to him.

'Let them go!' Percy said as they approached Geryon.

'We did your stupid job, the stables are clean, you and Percy made a deal, we go free and your stables are clean.' Kayla said as she eyed Geryon. He started to laugh as he turned his attention to the two demigods.

'Did you now? Enlighten me on how you did it.' He asked. Percy explained to him how they were able to pull it off, however Geryon didn't seem the least bit amused.

'Too bad you didn't poison that pesky little naiad. She has been a pain in my backsides for a long time now.' Kayla growled however Percy just huffed.

'Geryon we had a deal, let them go!' Percy commanded. Geryon turned to Percy looking a little angry.

'Ah, but you see it wasn't a binding oath. If you had made me swear on the Styx, I would have to let you kids go, but seeing has I didn't I don't have to.' Geryon smiled. In an instant, Percy uncapped Anaklusmos as Kayla's swords sprung into her hands ready for battle.

'It's been a pleasure doing business with you Mr Jackson, but I'm afraid out little partnership ends here. Eurytion, kill them.' Geryon ordered as he went back to flipping burgers on his barbecue. Eurytion turned to Geryon and scowled.

'You know what? Kill them yourself; I am a cow herder, not an executioner. You keep picking fights for no good reason, you want them dead? Do it yourself, I'm tired of dying for you.' Eurytion said getting up and leaving. Even their hostage friends seemed surprised, a child of Ares refusing battle? That was new. Geryon turned to Eurytion's back in a furious state.

'You dare defy me!? I should fire you right now!' Geryon screamed. Eurytion turned around a laughed.

'Ha, right. Who would take care of the cattle then?' Geryon turned red with anger as he turned to Percy and Kayla.

'Fine then! I'll deal with these two…' Geryon screamed as he picked up two sharp butcher knives and threw them at Percy. He deflected the first one while the other flew at Kayla who managed to slice the incoming knife with a few twists of her swords.

Percy impaled Geryon through the chest and instantly pulled out and waited for him to crumble to dust, however he just stood up as the wound in his middle chest healed as he smiled.

'Hehe, you see now sonny? You can't kill me! I have the perfect backup system, three hearts!' Geryon said in victory, however that was cut short before he was impaled twice more by two flying blades that pierced his left and right chest. He looked for the attacker to find her standing meters away hold two chains that connected to her arms.

'Make that one last heart, Percy now!' Kayla screamed. Percy went in and struck again in the middle chest. However this time to make sure he actually killed him, he dragged his sword up through Geryon's chest and right through his skull and ripped it out. At the same time, Kayla pulled on her chains, ripping out the swords from the monsters chest and pulling them back to her in one motion.

'This time, die!' Percy said slicing Geryon's fear ridden head clean off as his entire body collapsed into dust. Sighing, Percy dismissed Riptide as he put it back into his pocket, along with Kayla whose weapons returned to being bracelets on her wrists.

They went over and untied the friends, too bad they had already killed Geryon, Zoe wanted piece of him, literally wanted a piece of him. She turned to Percy and slapped him hard.

'Ow! What was that for?!' Zoe growled at him.

'You should know by now to get a solemn oath before making any rash decisions like that. You made it stupidly easy for that monster to double cross you!' Zoe scolded. Percy sighed and turned to Eurytion who was watching from a few meters away with a little smile.

'How long will it take for him to reform?' Percy asked. Eurytion just sighed and laughed a little.

'More than a hundred years, more or less, he's one of those slow reforming types.' Eurytion said. Percy felt better knowing that creep wasn't going to be around for at least until Percy dies. Then Percy remembered something Eurytion had said and decided to question it.

'You said you had died for Eurytion before… are you immortal?' Percy asked. Eurytion scoffed.

'Yeah, worst mistake of my life, I hate my father for offering it to me but I was the fool who took it. Now I'm stuck here forever, tending to Geryon's every need, if I die, I just reform a week later.' He said miserably. Percy sighed.

'Maybe you can change things. Geryon's gone for a hundred years. How about you stop trading with the titans and giving them stuff. That would be a start. Who knows? Once you start to get things going around here, when Geryon comes back he will be working for you. Eurytion turned to Percy and the demigods who stood behind him. They looked like family, a family who had each other's backs. They were going to go far in their lives, he could just tell by the hard iron look in their eyes.

'Now that… I could live with. You have yourself a deal Mr Jackson; you are free to leave to go wherever you want.' He replied. Percy sighed with relief as he turned to Kayla.

'Will you come with us?' Percy asked, his sister smiled and gave him a hug.

'Of course I will.' She said. As they broke apart Percy turned to Nico with a wary expression on his face.

'I'm not going anywhere just yet; I'm going to attempt to summon Bianca tonight to get her permission. Until then, I am not leaving.' Nico said as he left the room. Percy turned to Eurytion again with a worried expression.

'We're going to need a seven meter long hole, drink and food.' Percy said. Eurytion turned and smiled.

'One grave for summoning the dead, coming right up.' He grinned with a wink.

-Line Break-

As night fall came along, the group had gathered a freshly dug grave outside the back of the ranch. The atmosphere was grim and tense. Zoe had pressured Percy and the others not to let Nico go through with this but they refused to listen. She was only trying to save the poor kid from more heartbreak.

As Nico headed towards the edge of the pit, he began to chant in ancient Greek that even Zoe didn't understand, however as the mist and the ghostly figures began to float into existence, nobody exactly wanted to know what he was chanting. As Nico poured the cans of root beer and the left over's from the barbecue, a ghost stepped forward and drank from the offering, Nico's temper flared.

'Step back! Only Bianca may drink!' Nico yelled, however the ghost had already finished, his form solidifying to become the form of Minos. Zoe gasped as Minos examined his body with a smile.

'Too long has it been to look whole again…' Minos said with a chill. Zoe growled drawing Minos's attention, however when Minos saw her, his eyes widened in confusion and anger.

'You…!' Minos said glaring at her, Zoe just growled back.

'You should be in the underworld, where you belong you male scum!' Zoe hissed. Minos sneered.

'I could say the same for you! The prophecy stated that _one would perish by a parent's hand_, and that was supposed to be you! Your father Atlas should have killed you as the prophecy foresaw! Why is it you are not dead?' Minos hissed. Nico seemed to pay attention to what he had just said.

'Wait, what do you mean she should have died?' Nico asked. Zoe seemed to catch her breath along with everyone else. The fact that Kayla saved Zoe and not Bianca, Nico would just take as an insult and even more of a reason to join the other side.

'Master, last winter, when these_ heroes_ murdered your sister, it was for filling a line of the prophecy. She was lost in the land without rain, however the last line of the prophecy clearly stated that one would perish by a parent's hand. If I am not mistaken, two people should have died on that quest, not just the one…' Minos explained glaring at the group out of the corner of his ghostly eye. Nico turned dangerously towards the group, his hand drifting towards his sword.

'You avoided the death that was given by a prophecy? How did you manage that _Zoe_?' Nico spat angrily. Zoe glared at the boy, so many emotions trying to surface at once, guilt, anger, sorrow… she just didn't know how to answer that question. In truth, she had no part in her own change of fate; Kayla had saved her at the last minute and denied her fate… how is she supposed to say that to Nico? "Oh bad luck, Kayla saved me instead of Bianca, nice try but no cigar?" Yeah, there was no way to break this to Nico. Her being still alive was a slap to the face for the child of Hades.

Kayla stepped forward.

'I am the reason Zoe is still alive.' Kayla said summoning her swords. Nico eyed them nervously as Minos just stared wide eyed at the two swords, as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

'I-I-It cannot be… It's I-Insane! T-Those swords… T-They are just an L-legend!' Minos stuttered as he figured out the connection. The swords of fate, in the hands of a child of Poseidon… what ludicrous has this world come to? Is this some cruel joke that the fates are playing? Why place such a power in the hands of someone who isn't capable of handling it?!

Nico was looking back in forth between the swords and Minos's reaction, what could possibly be so special about some swords?

'M-Master, those are the swords of fate. This demigod has the power to change the fate of small events, she could have saved your sister, but choose not to!' Minos said turning things in his favor. Nico being the naïve little demigod believe Minos and glared at Kayla with absolute hatred.

'I thought you were my friend! I thought I could trust you! Obviously not, I will never trust any or you again!' Nico screamed painfully as he turned back to the pit as he drew in a deep breath.

'Be gone Minos. Bianca! I summon you forth!' Nico screamed into the night sky, Minos disappeared with a growled into the mist of the night. At first there was nothing, as the murmuring of ghosts of louder, however they shushed as a bright wisp of light floated out of the trees. As it got closer, the wisp solidified into the form of Bianca di Angelo, the fallen huntress, the person who had bravely given her life to save them from Talos.

Zoe couldn't handle it as she burst into tears and collapsed to her knees crying along with Thalia. Old feelings resurfaced as Percy remained silent as he was reminded of his painful search through the scrap yard that came out in vain, he had found nothing. He had never forgiven himself for being so weak. Kayla felt bad because at the time, she could have saved Bianca just like she did with Zoe, however she had been a fool and a scared little girl to accept at the time what she thought was to be her curse.

Bianca turned to Percy.

'Hello Percy, it's nice to see you again, and hello to you to Nico, you have grown taller.' Bianca turned to Kayla and spared an innocent angelic smile.

'I understand the burden you went through, do not blame yourself because you couldn't save me as well as my sister Zoe. Even for you fate has a path set for you all to follow, my death was needed for the path to continue being followed, I hold no grudges towards any of you.' Bianca's ghost said with a smile. Although it was nice to hear her say that in person, it didn't make the group feel any better.

Nico stumbled forward, his eyes pleading for this not to be a dream for a fake illusion. He reached out to Bianca only to have his hands pass right through her. He cursed as he started to cry a little bit. Bianca smiled as she looked at Nico.

'Why didn't you answer me sooner!? I've been trying for months! Don't you know what I've been through?' Nico whimpered. Bianca wanted to hold him, like she use to in the old days, back before they knew they were demigods.

'I was hoping you would stop, and return to camp where you were safe.' Bianca admitted. Now that was a harsh blow, the group didn't even see that one coming. Nico looked up at Bianca with a confused look, as if he was a child being disowned by his own mother.

'S-Stop? Give up!?' Nico got up and stepped back, his eyes were streaming. 'I'M TRYING TO SAVE YOU!' He screamed. Bianca looked sad and depressed as she watched her little brother's reaction; this was the cold hard world he has to live in now. He can be sheltered from what is going to happen soon, better this happen now than later.

'You cannot save me, fate has deemed it so and that cannot change.' Bianca said sadly. Nico looked angry as he turned and ran towards Kayla. He grabbed her shoulders and started shaking them violently.

'Save her! You saved Zoe, so save my sister! Do it! Please!' Nico said shaking her violently. Kayla just looked at Nico sadly, as she too started to cry. This was just all so emotional, she couldn't take it, the old feelings and now seeing Nico like this, virtually on the edge of finding any means of bringing his sister back to him.

'I-I can't, I'm sorry.' She stated. The shadows around Nico exploded as his anger grew to intense levels.

'WHY NOT!? You saved Zoe! Why can't you do the same for my sister!? IT'S NOT FAIR!' He said as he collapsed to his knees. Kayla wasn't sure why she couldn't, at the time, when the opportunity was presented to her, it felt right to save Zoe… but even then, Zoe was still alive… Bianca is already dead, so it would either not work, or something terribly bad would happen to her soul.

Nico had sunk to the ground in an emotional wreak, the only thing you could hear was the distance crackle of the fire Eurytion had lit and Nico's wails. Bianca floated over towards Nico and sat next to his crumbled form as he lay on the ground, hold Kayla's tattered and ripped jeans.

'It's not fair…. It's not fair…' He muttered to himself. Bianca sighed.

'Nico, you must understand, it was my choice to make alone. You must forgive Percy, Kayla, Zoe and the others. You're not really mad at them, who you're really mad at, is me…' Bianca said. Nico tightened the grip on Kayla's jeans as he buried his head in his arms.

'As a child of Hades, holding grudges is our greatest flaw… If you don't take my advice, and continue on down this road, it will be your doom…' Bianca said sadly. It was the cold hard truth; it was bad enough he was only twelve, but the life of a demigod is no sugar canes and sprinkles on top… death, misery, wars, enemies… that's what being a demigod is like, the good times only lasted so long…

After five minutes, Nico managed to pull himself together. He looked like an emotional wreak, that same emotionless looked was right back on his face, as if he was a sixteen year old being woken up early to go to school. The black bags under his eyes hung even lower, and his face looked even paler than before, it was as if he was going to be sick or had caught a deadly cold. His eyes were red and puffy from crying and his cheeks were stained with tear marks.

'I have to leave now; it's getting dangerous out here. If you truly love me, do not attempt the soul exchange, and stop listening to Minos, he will lead you to death…' Bianca said as she started to fade into a mist. She turned to the others and smiled before turning to Nico one last time and smiling.

'Good bye, I love you little brother… remember what I said.' She said before she faded into a mist and returned to the underworld. It was silent as Nico had let go of Kayla's jeans allowing her to move again. Nico just sat on his knees staring into space.

Without any more words, the group silently left Nico by himself to morn, as well as themselves as they returned to the inside of the ranch, the death of Bianca, refreshing their minds and reminding them of the painful lost they had, had, just only last winter.

-Line Break-

In the morning, when everyone woke up, the events of last night still in their minds, they proceeded to have breakfast which consisted of cereal and other fruits. Everyone was very tired as nobody had gotten a good night's sleep. It's hard to get a good night's sleep after a dead friend who was summoned by her brother, tells him to forget about reviving her and take care of himself when the only thing he had been trying to do for the past six months was bringing her back to life somehow.

When Nico finally woke up, he was in no better state than any of them. He looked like he was actually a walking corpse to a point where Grover was wondering if Nico was actually a Zombie. That question was answered when Nico glared at Grover and walked off to have his own breakfast. Speaking of Grover, he looked really worried which made Percy feel weird since the two shared a mental connection.

'What's up G-man?' Percy asked. Grover twirled his thumbs nervously.

'Dude, I can't go back to camp without finding Pan… I'll get my searchers licence revoked and I will get stuck with some boring old job.' Grover explained. Percy's eyebrows furrowed.

'When did this happen?' Percy asked, looking a little angry. Grover shifted uneasy.

'Well, there was a hearing for that subject, but at the time you were still having your little emotional melt down on your sisters kidnapping…' Grover said. Percy went a bit red with embarrassment but was also angry at himself that he couldn't be there for his best friend when he needed him the most.

'I'm sorry I wasn't there…' Percy said sadly. Grover just patted Percy on the back.

'Don't worry! It's fine, I'm sure we will find Pan… I remember I forgot to tell you about something when you asked me about the Erymanthian Boar back when you guys were on that quest for Artemis. I was out looking for more demigods when I was drinking some coffee and suddenly I hear this voice in my head that said "_I await you_"' Grover recalled. Percy was surprised, even Zoe managed to pick up on this convocation.

'Are you meaning to say that Pan, the lord of the wild, the god of nature and all things natural and peaceful, talked to you directly… as a person… or satyr in your case.' Zoe said in disbelief. Grover nodded his head but frowned.

'Why do you care anyway? He's a male isn't he?' Zoe snorted.

I'll have you know that Pan was a very good friend of Lady Artemis, despite he being the opposite gender, he was not self-centred, he was not obnoxious and he was not impulsive or rude. He was kind, gentle and the most caring man- I mean satyr to ever even receive permission to enter the hunters camp on his own person cord. That is until he disappeared.' Zoe said sadly. Grover seemed down about it to.

'I guess that's why satyrs have this large crush on the hunters of Artemis then…' Percy blurted out by accident. Grover went beat read and punched Percy in the arm while Zoe looked at Grover in disgust but then chuckled a little bit making Grover even more embarrassed.

'I suppose if Lady Artemis were to make a change to the vow, it would only allow us hunters that follow her to fall in love with males who have exactly the same personality as Pan, sadly, there's not a single one that even exists in creation… how sad.' Zoe chuckled as she walked off to find Thalia, Kayla and Annabeth. Percy glared at the figure of Zoe leaving the room, which the comment was obviously meant to get under his skin, a little joke played by Zoe to get on his nerves.

'For a huntress, she definitely knows how to get under our skin. It's like she was directly challenging us to try and be better than Pan.' Percy muttered as he finished his breakfast. He quickly checked the time, it was currently ten thirty seven and Annabeth had told them they would be leaving at eleven sharp.

Percy finished up and headed towards where his stuff was located and began to pack, getting ready to descend back into that hell hole of a maze. He hated the place, as much as he hated Luke and Kronos. They needed to find Daedalus and kill him before Luke and his army had a chance to destroy camp. If his dream last night was correct, Luke was recruiting Kampe into the army as was going to use her to lead the army into camp Half-Blood, and by the sounds of it, it sounded like they already had the string, which was a major problem.

As Percy headed outside, everyone seemed to be waiting for him, Kayla was going to be joining them in their quest, and that seemed nice, having his sister and his friends by his side, made his resolve to protect and defend his friends stronger than ever.

As Nico came out, Percy seemed hesitant to ask him whether he would want to come or not, that was answered as Nico partially read his thoughts.

'I'm staying here for the time being, then I might Iris message the camp and let them know I might be coming back. I remember you telling me about Luke's army and how they are going to be invading camp soon, I think it would be best if I head back there and back them up with some support from the underworld.' Nico said as he looked at Percy and the group.

'Sorry I was acting so badly last night, I was unable to control my emotions. I promise it won't happen again.' Nico continued. Thalia sighed.

'It's okay to show emotion death breath, just try to remain a little more calm and you will be alright. That's good if you head back to camp, they will need someone as powerful as you are. With the amount of campers we have, I don't think they will be able to hold off an entire army.' Thalia said. Zoe grinned.

'Should we Iris message Artemis before we leave and warn her about the oncoming attack on Camp Half-blood so they can get the support of the hunters as well?' Zoe asked. Thalia grinned.

'That would be an awesome idea. Those weak little campers need all the help they can get. With our sisters there, they can't possibly lose.' Thalia said as the two hunters walked off to Iris message their mistress. Nico had walked back to the ranch, a sort of graveyard like mist clinging to him as he walked back.

Percy, Annabeth and Kayla turned to Eurytion with questionable looks.

'Do you have any way we could find Daedalus?' Percy asked. Eurytion grumbled as he reached into his back pocket and pulled out a silver metal contraption.

'I do not know how to reach Daedalus, however Hephaestus might be able to point you in the right direction. This contraption was given to us by the god himself, in case we needed anything from him to help the farm in any way.' Eurytion said as he popped the contraption as it turned into a metal spider. Annabeth shrieked and hid behind Percy as she started to shake. Eurytion laughed.

'Athena and Arachne still having a scrap huh, that's too bad.' Eurytion chuckled. Percy looked in the direction Nico had walked off to.

'Make sure he doesn't do anything stupid, okay?' Percy asked nicely. Eurytion sighed and grumbled.

'Sure, I'll make sure little death boy doesn't get into too much trouble.' The son of Ares said. Just as Thalia and Zoe returned, the metal spider, sparked to life as to turned in a three sixty degree and headed off towards the direction of the labyrinth entrance which just happened back down the cattle grid.

The now five demigods plus the one satyr were now backing tracking down into the maze, following a metal spider, leading them towards the god of forges. Percy's mind was now clear of most of his worry, Kayla was back with him, and Nico was okay and had even forgiven him for Bianca's death that in Percy's defense wasn't his fault.

However, there was another problem that had just surfaced, and that was revealed in the dream Percy had last night. They had spent five days down here in the Labyrinth and an extra day on that farm. That's six days and now Luke was in possession of the string and now had to means to invade camp and potentially kill every single demigod there. Kronos must be planning his moves carefully; he knows with the demigods out of the war, the gods stood no chance against the forces of the Titans.

It was simple, if camp Half-Blood were to fall, this war, was as good as over.

-Line Break-

A/N: That's chapter eight done. Very, Very hard chapter to write, sorry it took so long. Had school and stuff to attend to.

Now down to business, a lot of you may have noticed that I am sticking to the cannon, A LOT. Yes, it's not going to curve off to much as i'm trying to stick to the book as much as I can. Remember this is an AU, it's already different as I've kept Zoe alive and Percy has a sister. These may seem quite same to the book, but trust me, things are going to change later on.

Not a big chapter, around nine thousand, I tried to make it larger but, I just couldn't it was a hard chapter to write so I tried my best.

Now I bet some of you are wondering about pairings, now I'm not quite sure yet, as I am still deciding on the fate of Luke, Yes, you read that right, I am contemplating on whether of not to keep Luke alive or not at the end of TLO. I've always liked Luke, very cool character, anyway, leave a comment in the reviews or PM me on your view on whether I should keep Luke alive, or not, if he does, he will play a huge part in the HoO series.

Lastly, in the latest movie for Percy Jackson, Annabeth is a gigantic b**ch to Tyson... i mean man, she was so cold to him throughout the movie, and yeah she had a reason to but... man, talk about cold with a capital 'C'.

Thanks and I'll see you guys next chapter! :)


	10. Chapter Nine

A/N: Hey guys, long time no see? haha, yeah i'm really sorry about the long wait. Been awhile and I've been quite busy lately.

Sorry if the chapter seems rushed, this story is getting quite hard to write but I try my best to improve each chapter.

Anyways, On with the Story! :)

Chapter Nine: Awakening the Nightmare of the Gods

The six demigods plus the satyr made their way down the black marble corridor following the metal spider automation that was given to them to help to find the god of forges, just another step to finding where Daedalus was hiding. Fortunately, if they didn't have Grover's enhanced hearing and Zoe's extraordinary tracking skills, how she could feel the small vibrations through the hard marble floor, the group of six would have completely lost the small spider.

It was like playing cat and mouse with this thing, however close they thought they got to it, it would just seem even further away. It was incredibly frustrating, plus they couldn't afford to take any sort of breaks or rest, because the spider would get too far away. After back tracking a few times and going down different tunnels, they finally ran into a large open room where they were hit with a spot light blinding them.

They shielded their eyes and looked around for the reason and they found it staring at them with a smile on its face. The Sphinx stood perched on a large glittery podium and it was wearing glasses, it looked surprisingly like a third grade drama teacher with how much make up it wore. With the body of a lion and its hair tied back into a bun, the look of a teacher was blatant to the entire group.

Just below the Sphinx, the spider automation scuttled between its paws and disappeared from sight. Annabeth went forwards but was stopped in her tracks as the Sphinx snarled, steel caged bars came down from where they had come from and where they were heading, effectively trapping them in the room. The Sphinx's snarl turned into a smiled as the group of demigods seemed uncomfortable with the smile it was giving them.

'Welcome lucky contestants! You will get ready to play… Queue drum roll!' It said. In the background, played out of large speakers that hung from the top of the room, an electrical drum roll audio sound played from them as the spot lights were circling around the group.

'Answer the riddles!' The Sphinx yelled as streamers and glitter erupted around her spraying the group of un-amused demigods with party streamers and confetti. Zoe huffed.

'We do not have time for this.' She muttered glaring at the Sphinx. All over the floor, littered around the podium the Sphinx was standing on, where bones and other remains of other unlucky people or contestants that happened to pass through this place.

'Fabulous prizes to be won! If you win and answer all the riddles, you get to advance! If you fail, I get to eat you.' The Sphinx said with a smile. Thalia gulped and chuckled nervously.

'Haha… great, let's play the game show of death…'

'Who will be our lucky contestant to play today?' The Sphinx said eyeing the group of demigods. After a few seconds, the spotlights hit Annabeth as the speakers on the top of the room, blared with applause as Annabeth went wide eyed.

'Me? Um, okay then…' Annabeth said as she approached the contestant's podium where a piece of paper and a 2B pencil lay in front of her. She looked at the paper a little confused but looked up at the Sphinx and swallowed hard as she realized if she answered a question wrong, they would have to fight for their lives.

'Annabeth Chase is our contestant today! Wish her luck with the riddles!' The Sphinx yelled over in room. In the background, an audio clip of a crowd cheering sounded making the quest group of demigods shake their heads in disbelief at how stupid it all was. They were also confused as to how the Sphinx already knew Annabeth's name when she hadn't even said it yet.

'First riddle!' The Sphinx said. Annabeth steeled herself for the riddle as she put her mind into knowledge and wisdom mode.

'_Alright Annabeth, you have got this, daughter of Athena, there's no riddle or question I can't solve!'_ Annabeth thought, trying to boost her self-confidence.

'What…' The Sphinx started. Annabeth's eyes narrowed in determination.

'_Here we go…'_

'What… is the capital of Bulgaria?' The Sphinx asked. Annabeth just stood there with a twitching frown. She couldn't believe it! What kind of riddle was that? No, that was not a riddle… that was a common knowledge question!

Meanwhile Zoe's eyes were twitching, back in the times of Achilles and Odysseus; the Sphinx would ask a single riddle that would be almost impossible to answer. This riddle, no, question was the most stupid thing she had ever heard.

'Is this supposed to be hard?' Kayla asked starching her head. Percy chuckled.

'Yeah, I thought this was going to be really hard. If this is just common knowledge, Annabeth has this one in the bag. There's no way she could fail this.' Percy sighed as he relaxed as he knew Annabeth would easily win.

'There has to be some sort of twist or trick to this, it can't be this easy.' Zoe said. Annabeth narrowed her eyes, scanning the question to make sure there wasn't any second meaning to the question but found it was just a normal question that even a twelve year old would know.

'Sofia, but these aren't-'

'Correct!' The Sphinx roared as more canned applause sounded in the background, cutting Annabeth off. 'Please make sure to mark your answer clearly on your test sheet with the 2B pencil provided, thank you!' It said. The Sphinx sounded more like an airplane safety guide that you have to watch before you take flight.

'What?' Annabeth said looking down at her sheet and realizing that she had to be writing them down after she answered them.

'_What is this, a game of twenty questions?'_ Annabeth thought angrily as she scowled at the Sphinx. The Sphinx smiled and pointed at the sheet of paper in front of her.

'Don't forget to circle your answer and circle it clearly, if you have to erase your answer, erase it completely otherwise the machine won't be able to read your work properly. Annabeth scowled.

'What machine?' She asked angrily. The Sphinx smiled, not even registering the angry look on her contestants face and pointing to the bronze geared machine with bronze leavers, it had a large Greek letter "H" on the side, standing for Hephaestus. Zoe frowned, everything monster now days had changed and become accustom to the new age, all this new technology annoyed her.

'Now, onto the next riddle-'

'Wait a second.' Annabeth said cutting off the Sphinx. It looked at her as its glasses slid down her nose as she looked at Annabeth with a questionable look. Annabeth sighed.

'What happened to the other riddle you use to ask? The one that goes, "What walks on four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon and three in the evening?" What happened to that riddle?' Annabeth protested. The Sphinx looked annoyed.

'I beg your pardon?' It said, like a teacher that had just heard a student use a bad word. Annabeth sighed again, getting frustrated.

'The riddle about man, and life and growing up… He walks of four legs in the morning, like a baby when they are born, two legs in the afternoon, which represents growing up and three legs in the evening, representing an old man with a cane! That's what you use to ask.' Annabeth said. The Sphinx looked at Annabeth with disapproving eyes.

'You just answered your own question! You already knew the answer, exactly why we changed it! Now, second riddle, what is the square root of sixteen?'

'Four,' Annabeth growled, 'but-'

'Correct! Which US president signed the Emancipation Proclamation?' The Sphinx asked. Zoe growled.

'I was there for the signing, what kind of riddle is that? These aren't even riddles! This is waste of time.' Zoe muttered under her breath. She desperately wanted to put a few arrows in this blasted Sphinx for asking such stupid questions.

'The spider is getting even further away…' Grover sounded under his breath.

Annabeth sighed; this was an insult to her intelligence and a waste of time.

'Abraham Lincoln, but-'

'Correct! Next riddle, how much-' Finally, Annabeth snapped. She wasn't going to take this stupid insult to her intelligence any longer.

'Stop! This is ridiculous, I'm not going to stand around here and be asked a bunch of stupid random facts. These aren't even riddles, I'm a child of Athena, I won't answer these questions, and it's below me to even try.' Annabeth stated. Thalia growled.

'Annabeth, just answer the stupid questions so we can continue!' She hissed. Annabeth turned and growled.

'I refuse.'

Thalia face palmed as she looked at Annabeth with extreme anger, her stupid pride was going to get them all killed. Even now as they continued to waste time in this area, the metal spider that was supposed to be guiding them to the forges of the god of blacksmiths, Hephaestus, they were stuck here wasting time and Annabeth wasn't helping by refusing to answer the questions due to her fatal flaw, her pride got in the way.

The large Sphinx growled but still looked kind of happy with Annabeth's answer as she licked her lips as the Sphinx's growling got more louder and made it sound more hungry than angry. Kayla chuckled nervously at the Sphinx's growing interest on Annabeth; it was eyeing her as if she were a standing meal on a plate.

'I think we should get out of here.' Kayla said getting down into a defensive stance; Zoe saw this and looked at the Sphinx, now knowing what Kayla was getting at. She too, drew her bow and notched an arrow ready to fire straight towards the Sphinx's head.

'Well my little contestant, if you don't answer the questions, you fail… and we both know what happens when you fail…' The Sphinx said as it moved from its host podium and jumped down ready to pounce Annabeth if she even moved.

Percy drew Anaklusmos as Choice and Destiny sprang into Kayla's hands and readied an offensive stance. Zoe and Thalia armed their bows while Grover got out his reed pipes ready to cast any woodland magic needed.

'Turn invisible!' Percy whispered to Annabeth. She turned and looked at him as if she was being commanded to do what she didn't want to do. She glared at Percy,

'I can fight!' She protested however Kayla shook her head.

'We know you can fight, but the Sphinx is going to go after you, so if I were you, I would put that nice little hat on right now.' Kayla suggested as the Sphinx got even closer to Annabeth. Annabeth turned to find the Sphinx about to pounce. She quickly pulled out her invisible Yankee's cap and disappeared from sight just as the Sphinx had pounced and landed on an empty, vacant spot.

Zoe and Thalia launched an arrow barrage on the Sphinx causing it to become pinned down and unable to move from its spot. Grover started on his reed pipes, magical roots sprouted from the ground, entangling the Sphinx and temporarily immobilizing her. Percy and Kayla decided they would try to find a way out as they ran over to the exit that was blocked by steel cage bars.

'Great, we could really use that dagger Zoe has right about now!' Percy said as he looked around for an alternative. However he found it as his sisters swords burst into a Greek flame as she turned to him and grinned.

'I got this.' She side as she started to saw the steel cage bars as they melted like butter in a frying pan as the Greek fire ate away at the weak rusted steel bars. In less than two minutes, the bars blocking the entrance had been melting to their bases making it easy to get through.

'Let's move!' Percy screamed as he and Kayla passed through the melted cage bars. Appearing next to them was Annabeth who had taken her hat off. Grover ran towards them as Thalia and Zoe ran towards them, letting off arrows with a brief glance when looking behind them as they ran.

'Get behind me!' Percy commanded. Zoe and Thalia slid next to him providing cover fire as Percy gathered his power to his blade. In a large thrust, he plunged his sword into the ground. His eyes shined green as the tunnel around them started to shake violently. Right in front of them, the Sphinx was charging angrily towards them, however the entrance they had passed through with the steel cage bars had collapsed as rock and other solid materials block the Sphinx from getting to them.

On the other side, the wails and cries of the Sphinx could be heard as the large lion monster rammed and hit the rock that had collapsed but none of it even gave a single budge and refused to give way to any sort of external force. Percy breathed a sigh when Zoe and Thalia looked at him with shocked expressions; even Annabeth, Kayla and Grover were shocked.

'Where in the Hades did you learn to do that?!' Thalia exclaimed. Percy chuckled and winked annoying Thalia and making her angry.

'Hello… son of the Earth shaker here? Source of all Earthquakes and storms, ring any bells?' Percy teased. Thalia huffed and turned red with embarrassment.

'I knew that, I was just testing you.' Thalia said turning away. Zoe chuckled slightly, she was impressed with Percy, and not all children of Poseidon knew they could do that. Just because Poseidon is the God of the Ocean and water doesn't mean he doesn't have any other domains. A lot of his past children only thought they have control over water; Percy has only been the first one she has ever seen to experiment with his power.

'Wow… I never knew you could do that Perce! That was awesome!' Grover said in amazement. Kayla was just stunned to the core at what her brother had just done, she knew she had the ability to do that, but she could never figure it out or manage to do it. Annabeth just smiled, just another reason why that Seaweed Brain impressed her, you could always count on him to think of a quick way to do something efficiently.

Suddenly something occurred to Zoe which made her panic as she could no longer feel the vibrations in the floor.

'The spider! I can't track it anymore!' Zoe said panicking. Everyone cursed internally until Grover gasped.

'Wait, I can still hear it! Follow me, I know where it is!' Grover said trotting off into the darkness. The group smiled and sighed with relief as they ran after Grover.

After a good twenty minutes of backtracking and running in the wrong direction, and a little growls and threats from Zoe, they managed to find the little metal spider as it was banging its little metal head against a door. The door was like one of those submarine hatches you would find on the navy submarines.

'Are we ready to meet Hephaestus?' Percy said to everyone. Zoe huffed along with Thalia, which kind of meant they didn't care. Kayla was curious, Grover was nervous and Annabeth was interested while Percy was calm and collected as he tried to keep his head under control. It's not every day you mean the god of fire, forging and Blacksmiths.

Percy walked forward and wrenched the hatch wheel open as the submarine hatch popped open. The metal spider scuttled through with the others following after it anxiously, nervous about their personal meeting with the god.

As they walked through, it was obvious this place wasn't the inside of a submarine, in fact it wasn't even close, and the hatch or door was just for show. The inside was like a large garage, a garage that a really rich person would have that would fit up to sixty maybe seventy cars at once. It was filled with all kinds of creations… automatons, cars, chariots, weapons, you name it, it was there and it was in the best condition.

At the end of the workshop was a man, a fairly large man with a large black beard. He was tinkering with a piece of metal and when he was finished, he looked at it as the metal item turned out to be a metal bird automation as it came to life and flew away. He saw the group of demigods approaching and sighed with annoyance.

'Look, you may feel incomplete but I never activate you automatons without knowing that you are one hundred per cent complete, now please leave me alone, before I disassemble you!' He grumbled as he turned back to his workshop, obviously mistaking the group of demigods for a bunch of automatons.

Annabeth swallowed nervously.

'Excuse me sir, but we are not automatons, were demigods, on a quest.' She said as Hephaestus turn back to them and looked closely and grumbled again.

'So you are, that's good. If you were automatons, you are obviously of poor quality, shabby workmanship.' Hephaestus said turning back to his work space once more. Annabeth grumbled along with Zoe. It felt like an insult, it was like being told you were ugly and there were so many errors with you.

'Well you're not so much of a looker yourself…' Thalia muttered under her breath. Good thing the large god didn't pick up on that as the entire group turned and looked at the daughter of Zeus as if she had a death wish.

'Sir, we have met before, on Olympus, when you voted to kill most of us.' Percy said bluntly. Hephaestus turned to Percy and studied him carefully, it was like the god had some sort of major memory dysfunction, or he was just too lazy to remember them.

'Ah, Percy Jackson, the man who is supposed to decide our fates, whether Olympus falls or rises from the ashes, or so it seems, It could be your sister there, who knows, you two were born on the same day, so there's a fifty per cent chance it could be either one of you.' He said. Just as Hephaestus was about to turn back to his table for a third time, something caught his eye.

A faint glowing of two bracelets on the wrists of Percy Jackson' sister, for a moment, Hephaestus couldn't believe what he was seeing, a flashback of the events with the fates and the secret project passed through his mind as he saw the swords again. The shape, the colour, his power was also infused in those weapons; he could never forget those swords. They had been picked up, but when were they picked up, and why by her? Those weapons were stored in the place beyond the gods, not even he knew where they were being kept.

'You there…' He said pointing at Kayla. She looked at him with a confused face.

'Me?' Hephaestus grumbled.

'Yes, you… Show me your weapons, now.' He ordered. Kayla seemed worried, and so did the rest of the group.

'_Does he know something about Choice and Destiny?'_ She thought to herself. With no difficulty whatsoever, the two blades popped into her hands in all their glory. The black blade glowed a dark shadowy aura which gave off the scent of the underworld and the feeling of death. The white one seemed calmer and a lot friendlier, like the sound of the ocean waves in a late afternoon.

Hephaestus was shocked to the core; he couldn't believe what he was seeing right at this moment in time! His greatest creation, his best project and his hardest efforts put into the project, the great symbol of power for the fates that had gone horribly wrong so many years ago was now in the hands of a mortal, a demigod no less! His eyes burnt with rage, as his black bread caught fire in a burning rage.

'Where did you get those weapons, little mortal?!' He bellowed. The group seemed to shrink under the large man's godly aura. Kayla was the most intimidated out of the lot as he was addressing her directly. However, she gathered her wits and answered his question.

'Alaska sir, I ran away from home when I was little and stumbled upon these weapons, they are bound to my soul now, and I can't get rid of them.' She said. Hephaestus growled as his mind turned like the gears of automation, trying to figure out possibilities on how she was able to pick the weapons up.

When they were infused with the fates power, the littlest of power or tip in the balance of the weapons would have caused something catastrophic to happen. Not even the fates themselves were able to pick them up as it was considered too dangerous and too risky to this world's well-being, but if that was the case, why was this little mortal able to pick the weapons up?

The large god turned back to his desk and walked over to a large shelf full of different colors of paper. He pushed all the paper aside like a mad man looking for something, he couldn't find what he was looking for as paper fell to the ground as he rummaged around in the shelf looking for whatever he was looking for.

Finally, right in the back of the shelf, covered in dust and a magical fire barrier, Hephaestus pulled out the chest and dropped it on his desk with a large thud. He pulled a black key out of his bread slid the key in the keyhole. The chest popped open as dust flew off and incinerated at the same time. With watchful and careful eyes, the god reached down and pulled out another piece of paper and dropped it in Kayla's hands.

She looked at the god along with her friends feeling a little confused as the large forge god sat back down at his desk and huffed as white hot sparks flew out of his eyes.

'Blueprints for the swords you carry. Learn how to use them, what they are made of, and what their limits are, only then will you ever be able to harness the power of the swords that can only be harnessed for a mortal demigod such as yourself. You carry a powerful dangerous weapon, never, ever let yourself get caught by the enemy because if they were to understand the power you hold, it would bring about the end of the world of immortals and mortals alike.' He said as he returned to his desk and began tinkering with more metal.

The gods mind was so troubled, he had hoped that no one would find them, he had hoped it would say a secret and stay hidden, but demigods and their ridiculous quests and their stupid ability to cross things they don't understand. It was madding to the point where he was on the verge of blowing up his own workshop; he hadn't been this distressed for years. Annabeth shifted a little, they still hadn't asked the question of how to get to Daedalus.

'Excuse me sir, but you didn't answer our previous question…' Annabeth said nervously, the god turned to her and looked at her out of the corner of his eyes as if to study here.

'Oh, right… that pesky son of Athena… Yes I know where you can find him, however you must do me a favor first.' The forge dog said. Zoe rolled her eyes like she had already expected this to happen, gods never cooperate unless you do something for them first, such selfish beings.

'Name it.' Annabeth said staring at the god, he bellowed with laughter as he wiped a tear of amusement off of his cheek. He chuckled for a while before pointing at the group of demigods.

'Oh you demigods, always a resource of amusement for us immortal beings… making such rash promises that sometimes, you end up nothing being able to keep in the end!' Hephaestus chuckled as he sighed as he switched on a large flat screen T.V next to his work bench. It displayed a large mountain, will large vegetation around the base of the volcano.

'Use to be one of my favorite forges, the roaring flame and excellent temperature for the making of metal and other materials…' The god explained, Grover's eyes narrowed at the scenery.

'That's Mount St Helens! I was looking for Pan around that area not too long ago…' Grover said. Annabeth, ignoring Grover's outburst pushed the god's explanation further.

'Wait a minute; you said it _used_ to be your favorite… what happened to it?' She questioned. The god grumbled as sparks flew off his bead as he blew smoke from his nostrils.

'Always with the questions, daughter of Athena… Anyway, this mountain just happens to be the mountain that Typhon is trapped under. It used to be Mount Etna but since we've moved to America, the force has been trapped under Mount St Helens.' The god explained. Percy raised an eyebrow.

'What, so you want us to fight him?' He asked. Zoe snorted and snickered to herself causing Percy to glare at her, she looked back in amusement.

'You really are stupid aren't you? Typhon is the father of all monsters; his parents are Gaea and Tartarus. You think we're going to fight him? Seriously, that's suicide.' Zoe said bluntly. Percy felt a little hurt by that but then shrugged it off, he never really was that interested in Greek Mythology in the first place, it's only when he found out he was a demigod was that all this stuff actually mattered to him. Kayla sighed as she looked up at the god and decided to ask the question that everyone else was thinking.

'So, what do you actually want us to do?' She asked. The god hummed to himself before answering.

'Something or someone has been using my forges over there, I always sense a presence over there, but whenever I go to check, whatever was there vanishes. It's most likely because they sense me coming and they hide. What I want you to do, is a little recon for me, go to the Mount and find out what's been using my forges and report back to me. Do this, and I'll tell you what I know about Daedalus.' He stated.

The group looked at each other, it didn't seem all that difficult to do, it wasn't like anyone was in serious danger of dying or anything. Thalia looked up at the god a little confused.

'Wait, how do we get there?' She asked. Hephaestus clapped his hands and the little metal spider jumped into his hands out of the darkness. Annabeth tensed as her eyes glued to the spider. The god opened the back of the spider, turned something, took something out and put it back into another place and set it back down on the floor.

'I've made some modifications to the guide. It will now lead you to Mount St Helens, and it will lead you back again to me once you're done.' The fire god said. The group didn't even get a chance to say anything before the spider took off, back the way they came. In the next few seconds, the group found themselves once again chasing after the spider, doing the bidding of the gods.

-Line Break-

The group was doing great until they came across a crossroads that was covered in tree roots and dirt, which was when Grover stopped dead in his tracks, like he had seen a ghost. He turned slowly until he was looking down a tunnel that led to nowhere but darkness. Thalia stopped and pulled Grover's arm but he refused to budge.

'Come on goat boy! Now's not the best time to stop for a rest!' Thalia breathed as she tried to pull Grover even further, but he refused to move and just continued to stare down the tunnel in awe.

'Pan…' He mumbled, now everyone had stopped and was looking at Grover.

'I have to go down there!' He pleaded to everyone, his eyes were desperate. Percy remembered the convocation they had just a hours ago back at the ranch when they were having breakfast, Grover was miserable because he couldn't find Pan and if he didn't return without finding him, his searchers license would be revoked and he would lose his meaning in life. Percy sighed as he closed his eyes.

'I'll go with Grover, we can split up.' He stated. Zoe everyone looked at Percy as if he were insane, however Grover's eyes were beaming with happiness. Kayla walked up to Percy and confronted her brother on his decision making.

'Are you out of your mind?' Kayla asked. Percy frowned in response.

'I know what I'm doing; Grover needs my help so I'm going to help him.' Percy retorted. Now it was Zoe's turn to question Percy's ability to make decisions.

'Do you not remember what I said before we came into this place? The Labyrinth exists only to fool you! For all you know, you could be walking straight into a death trap!' Zoe said. Percy growled as he tried to think up more excuses for them to let him go with Grover. Annabeth was getting restless, the spider was getting further and further away by the second, they had to make a decision right now otherwise they were going to get lost.

'Forget it, come on goat boy!' Thalia said pulling Grover down the tunnel he was looking down.' Everyone looked at Thalia now as she continued to pull Grover down the tunnel.

'Thalia what are you doing!?' Zoe screamed, Thalia looked back and smiled.

'Relax, you four keep going, I'll accompany goat legs here where ever his nose tells him to go. We'll see you again!' Thalia said as the two disappeared into the darkness of the other tunnel. Zoe stood staring down the tunnel is despair, she couldn't bear to lose someone close to her again, she had already lost Bianca on a mission, what if she lost Thalia to?

'We don't have any more time, we need to keep moving! We'll see them again!' Annabeth said as she continued down the tunnel, Percy following in pursuit. Kayla ran over and grabbed Zoe's arm and pulled her along to catch up with the other two up front. Kayla smiled.

'Don't worry Zoe; I'm sure we'll see those two again.' Kayla said confidently. Zoe smiled weakly.

'Yeah… I hope so; I just don't want another Bianca situation to happen again. That was painful enough as it was…' Zoe said.

'Come on we have to keep going, Grover and Thalia will be fine.' Percy said as he continued forward with Annabeth. Zoe had lost most of the color in her face and she actually wasn't looking to well. However, as they got closer to Mount St Helens, the heat from the forges hit them hard, like opening an oven door and having the heat wave hit you, except at least one hundred times more powerful.

In the distance, you could see the tunnel entrance into the forge, splashes of lava could be seen, indicating that the forges were at work and it was very busy. As they group of now four demigods got closer to the forge they started to hear voices, and a lot of voices at that over the large roar of the forge.

When they got to the entrance, they couldn't believe what they were seeing. The place was crowded with monsters, or strange looking monsters that everyone except Zoe hadn't seen before, but Zoe was still silent from Thalia going with that goat boy, she was afraid to lose her as well as Bianca, but she reassured herself, Thalia was tough and had experience like no other demigod had.

When she and her hunters had come across her, Luke and Annabeth when they were on the run, Thalia seemed like the leader of the group, she was tough, she was strong and she was determined to survive. Every time Zoe looked into those electric blue eyes, she knew that one day… if she were to fall in battle, Thalia would rise to the position of Lieutenant and honor her memory, like a true sister of the hunt would.

As they stared out into the heart of the mountain, the heat was already making them sweat profusely and was starting to irritated them, so they decided to get this done quickly. Annabeth put her invisibility hat on and snuck out to see what exactly was going on.

The moment Kayla and Zoe turned their heads, Percy had vanished, causing the two to curse slightly before staying put and waiting. They tried to see from where they were hiding what exactly was going on.

'Looks like their makings weapons…' Kayla examined. Zoe frowned as she narrowed her eyes even further trying to get a good look at what these monsters where transporting through and around the mountain. Indeed Kayla was right, they were making weapons and from what it looked like, weapons that would greatly serve the Titans army. Weapons and swords for Cyclops, weapons for Gorgons, and even what looked like brace metallic claws for Hell-hounds. These guys were really gearing up for a full on assault with the intention to slaughter every single enemy that came across them.

'Supplies for the Titans army… but why this forge, this is one of the best forges around for Hephaestus… why would the monsters choose here if they're going to make so many swords and armour? Couldn't they have used a smaller forge away from the sights of the gods… there has to be something more to this…' Zoe said.

In the next few minutes, something happened, all the monsters dropped what they were doing and made full haste towards another area to where Percy and Annabeth had headed. It was clear now that they had been found out. Just then, Zoe saw something out of the corner of her eye. Going away from where all the Telekhines where running to.

Wheeling away, with two of those Telekhines pushing the back of was a black coffin-like container. The lid wasn't on properly, and since Zoe and Kayla were at a higher point, Zoe saw exactly what was inside that black box. Her blood ran colder than dry ice. The hairs on the back of her head stood up on end as her eyes remained glued to the object inside the black box.

Kronos's Scythe

She could never forget what that cursive weapon looked like, the ability to rip the soul from any mortal of immortals body, a dangerous weapon indeed. Zeus had used the Scythe to slice Kronos to pieces before throwing the remains into Tartarus, and then used the remaining power of the gods to shatter the weapon so that it could never be re-forged, but here it was, fully re-forged and probably now going to be transported to Kronos himself. If he gets hold of that weapon, the chances of winning this war will decrease significantly!

Zoe drew her bow and notched and arrow in less than a seconded and fired two quick, dead on arrows at the black boxes wheels. The two arrows hit with deadly precision, knocking the two wheels off the cart and into the lava. The box took a violent jolt and fell lopsided. However, before the two Telekhines could react to this, the box slid off and down into the fiery pits of the forge. The lava swallowed the box and the weapon.

Zoe frowned, the weapon had already been completed and there was no way to destroy it now without the power of the gods. The only thing she did was slow the production down a bit. Meanwhile, Kayla was looking at Zoe in shock.

'Are you insane! You just gave away out position!' Kayla screamed under her breath. Zoe just sighed before turning to the daughter of the sea to explain that it was completely needed.

'Kayla, that box was transporting Kronos's Scythe, one of the most powerful godly weapons ever made, and it has the ability to rip people's souls from their body. If he gets hold of that weapon, he will become even more power than he already is!' Zoe explained. Just then, something invisible ran into Zoe knocking them over.

A green Yankees hat flew off the now visible blondes head and landed a few meters in front of the two girls. Kayla saw it was Annabeth, but she was not with Percy, if that was the case then… where was he?

Before anyone could say a word, there was a large explosion from within the volcano. An explosion that made you think you were going to burn to death but then get drenched in sea water… that kind of explosion.

Water shot everywhere, like a tidal wave had formed right in the middle of the volcano, dropping gallons upon gallons of cold sea water into the red hot lava, making the collision sound like dropping bacon in a frying pan. Wails and screams were heard all over the forges from all the monsters, running around in a panic, while Zoe, Annabeth and Kayla were sitting up at the tunnels entrance.

Water rushed through, drenching everyone but Kayla who willed herself dry once the wave had passed through. Zoe and Annabeth sat up all covered in sea water. Kayla went over to them, touched them on the shoulder and they instantly dried. Then a thought occurred to her…

'Percy!' Kayla said running over towards the entrance of the volcano. She looked around desperately, her sea green eyes darting from one corner of the now wet volcano to the other, looking for any sign of her brother… he couldn't be… dead, could he? No, she refused to believe it. Percy got out somehow, she could feel it in her blood, he was alive… but he was gone, somewhere she couldn't see.

'Kayla we have to go now! The monsters are on our trail, we have to leave!' Zoe said pressing a button on the spider reactivating it. It sprang to life, turned and scuttled down back the way they had come. Kayla didn't even argue, Annabeth had the same worry on her face, she looked just as sick as Kayla did… the possibility that Percy had burnt to dead made her skin crawl.

Now if her brother was actually dead… wouldn't that make her the prophecy child for certain? She didn't like the thought of that, she had been through enough having to first deal with Choice an Destiny, but now having the prophecy of making sure the world lives to see another day all based on a choice you will make? To her it sucked badly, like really bad, but she refused to believe her brother was dead. There had to be a way he survived, a feeling told her that, a feeling she couldn't ignore.

They made it back to Hephaestus's workshop; the door was now a large silver door that looked like an entrance to an old church from back in the times of Rome. When they entered, they found the large fire god waiting for them, with a careful red twinkle in his eye, like he had expected that not all of them would return.

'So…? What did you find?' He asked. Annabeth and Kayla refused to say a word; they remain silent with their heads down. Kayla's fists were going white at how this god was so ignorant that her brother was not with them, it was like he didn't even care, but then again, they were immortal, they must lose people all the time that they care about and learn to deal with it. Since nobody said a word, Zoe sighed and stepped forward.

'The forge you requested us to seek out turned out to be a monster infested work place. The place was run by Telekhines, and they were obviously making weapons, readying for an army… but that's not what I'm worried about.' Zoe said. Hephaestus raised an eyebrow as Zoe looked back into his own fiery eyes, she didn't want to know how he was going to react to this, but she was going to find out.

'What we found was most disturbing… Kronos's Scythe has been remade, and it is more powerful than before.' Zoe stated. Hephaestus shot from his seat, his eyes widened to the brim, looking like they were going to pop out of their sockets.

'The Titan lords weapon has been re-forged!? I must warn Olympus at once! Remain here until I get back.' Hephaestus said before disappearing in a column of flame. Zoe sighed again, it felt like she was the only one that was able to cope with this, it was like she was the only level headed person here.

Zoe turned and walked over to Annabeth and stood in front of her, crossing her arms and closing her eyes.

'Okay Annabeth… what exactly happened back there? What did Percy do?' Zoe asked. Kayla seemed to look at Annabeth as well, her eyes brimming with tears, trying to hold them back. However when Annabeth lifted her head, her eyes were streaming, she was full out crying. Logic told her Percy was dead and there was no way he could have survived it.

'We were found out, and we were back to back, we were cornered. Then he told me to get out of there. Turn invisible and run, he said he had a plan and he would stall them… but now that I think about it, he didn't seem to have a plan at all… he was just stalling them so I could get away…' Annabeth chocked. Kayla went red.

'And you listened to him!? If you stayed, he might still be alive! You two could have fought your way back to us, but no! You chose to listen to him and run away! What kind of girlfriend are you!' Kayla screamed at Annabeth. Annabeth was to shocked and to depressed to retort. Kayla looked like she was going to slaughter Annabeth before Zoe stepped in.

'Kayla stop, we can't fight over this… for all we know Percy might still be alive, but until we know for sure… we cannot fight each other! Understood!?' Zoe said firmly causing Kayla to back off from Annabeth. Kayla sighed and closed her eyes.

'Sorry Annabeth, I shouldn't have gone off at you like that. I'm just… I don't even know.' Kayla said sitting down and bringing her knees up to her chest. The three girls stood and sat around in silence, waiting for Hephaestus to come back.

Where it all gone had so wrong… when they had left here the first time there was six of them, now there was only three. Gods know where Grover and Thalia were… and Percy was either dead or alive, most likely the first due to the size of the explosion that they had witnessed inside in the volcano.

When Hephaestus returned, he was the least bit happy, apparently the gods are now starting to ready for war, and this was only now becoming a real serious threat to them now that Kronos will have his symbol of power back soon. The tension rolling off the forge god was even felt in the demigod's bones. To see a god's full power would kill you even if you looked at it.

However, Hephaestus looked a little angrier than he had when he left to go and warn the other gods of Olympus what the three female demigods had told him, and something told Zoe that they had also found out something that the three of the didn't pick up on. Without even asking, Hephaestus old them exactly what had happened.

'And so, our greatest Enemy, Typhon is awakening. Zeus has ordered all gods and goddesses to prepare for an assault as soon as Typhon surfaces, all thanks to your little friends stunt he pulled in the mount Typhon is granted to be awakening much sooner than we had hoped. It seems this war is starting to turn into the Titans favor… with all the gods trying to deal with Typhon, that leaves Olympus wide open for a full on assault from the Titan army.' Hephaestus explained.

'That means we demigods will be tasked to protect it at all costs… even pay with our lives if we have to…' Annabeth said grimly. That statement brought about a cold fear that ran down each of the three girls spines, they now knew exactly why the Titans were launching an attack on Camp Half-Blood.

'If Olympus needs demigods to protect it while the gods are fighting Typhon, then the demigods are the only thing that stands in Kronos's way to victory… so if he and his army wipe out Camp Half-Blood, he'll kill every single demigod in there.' Kayla said.

'That leaves Olympus completely undefended. Kronos will just walk right in the front door and destroy Olympus from the inside out without even breaking a sweat.' Zoe summarized. It all seemed to sink in just how much danger they were in, just how well planned the Titan's plan was to attack Olympus. Typhon was the key to their success… with that monster out and heading towards Olympus, even if Kronos was to fail, Typhon would still reach Olympus and destroy it easily. Hephaestus grumbled.

'I fear we won't be able to stop Typhon this time…' He sighed as she sat back down at his work bench and sighed, smoke and fire coming out of his nostrils. Kayla seemed confused.

'Wait, why not?' She asked. The god snorted.

'Out of the big three, only Zeus will be fighting Typhon… your father is too busy defending his palace in the ocean to care for Olympus, and Hades… well, they way Zeus has treated Hades over the past millennia, I doubt Hades will even lift a finger to even help.' The god sighed. Annabeth and Kayla looked at the god with surprise while Zoe just growled angrily.

Hades was stripped of his Olympian title at Zeus's command, assumed to be a traitor and planning his own plan to destroy Olympus. For reasons unknown, Zeus banished Hades to the underworld and was only allowed on Olympus for special occasions. Hades was an extremely powerful god and without him helping against Typhon, no matter how much they didn't want to admit it, without Poseidon's help or Hades's held, they would lose the battle against Typhon.

'That's just great! We are practically doomed either way!' Zoe snorted and growled at the same time. All because of Zeus's arrogance and fear, he has sealed his fate and the fates of twelve other Olympians. Hephaestus sighed sadly.

'It seems very likely that we are, huntress…' Hephaestus said sadly. Zoe groaned as she put a hand to her forehead. Her other two companions weren't thinking straight because of Percy's possible death, and this was Annabeth's quest after all and right now she wasn't calling any shots, she was barely in any state of mind to lead this group anyway! That's when Zoe made a decision, she would lead this quest now… Annabeth was unable to continue, it was time for her to step up and take control.

'Alright listen up.' Zoe said turning to the two emotionally stunned girls standing behind her. They both looked pale and sick, ready to curl up and die any second.

'We need to get back to Camp right now… we don't have any time to waste. Luke's army is marching there, probably right now as we speak, and unless we want to arrive at a camp that's in flames and destroyed… I suggest we get moving right now. We need to warn the camp what's coming and we need to do it fast, without Percy and without Thalia and Grover.' Zoe said sternly, the two girls seemed to get the message. Zoe nodded and turned to Hephaestus.

'Can you rework that spider there to take us back to camp?' Zoe asked nicely, hiding her angry tone in her voice. When the gods got depressed, it made everyone around them feel depressed. She knew from experience when Artemis had fights with Apollo, and Artemis, despite how much she hated Apollo, family was still family and she didn't like it when they fought. So when Artemis got depressed, she gave Zoe permission to get it out of her one way or another…

Hephaestus looked down at the spider and picked it up and put it on his desk. He switched it off and opened its back and started to tinker with it for a while. A minute later, he closed the back of it and switched it on. The spider sprang to live and started to scuttle away from the three girls and the forge god.

'Thank you, we'll figure something out… I hope.' Zoe muttered and left to follow the spider with two depressed girls following behind her. Hephaestus just sighed and grumbled as he turned back to his work bench and started to tinker with more metal.

'_Demigods… always full of hope and wonder… they truly are what makes gods who they really are.'_

-Line Break-

It was a few hours of consistent running until the group actually managed to get back to camp, no doubt that few hours had been probably a day and a half in the world above. The things they had seen down here in the Labyrinth, was more than what they ever wanted to see down there.

When they got out of the Labyrinth and crawled out of the rock they had crawled into to get into the cursive maze in the first place, they were met with a least a dozen archers from both Apollo and the hunters. When they saw Zoe leading the group, they dropped their guard immediately and ordered the Apollo kids to stand down.

'Zoe!' Phoebe said jumping down from a tree and pulling their Lieutenant into a hug. Now Zoe was a very strong girl and could hold her own against her father, and any monster she came across, but Phoebe's hugs? They were bone crushing and painful, especially when she would return from assignments set by their mistress.

'Zoe! Are you okay? Where is Thalia?' Phoebe asked looking around, the other hunters some of the younger ones also echoed "Where is sister Thalia?" around Zoe and Phoebe. Kayla and Annabeth still looked sick and depressed from Percy's disappearance. Phoebe frowned when she found the lack of half the group that she was told had gone into the Labyrinth.

'Where's Percy? Where are Thalia and that Satyr boy?' Phoebe asked looking around. Some of the Apollo campers had also come into the convocation wondering the same thing. Zoe was trying to come up with a way to answer the questions by the looks on Annabeth's and Kayla's faces told everyone the most probable answer to their questions.

'Are they alive?' An Apollo camper asked. Zoe growled, but calmed herself down and breathed.

'Look, we aren't sure… we got separated from Thalia and Grover because Grover was convinced he was close to Pan, so he endangered Thalia because he insisted he had to go so, Thalia went with him… we haven't seen or heard from them since. As for Percy… well, from what we saw… he is probably dead…' Zoe said. A boy with black hair and brown eyes stepped forward from the Apollo cabin.

'Percy is dead? That can't be right… He couldn't just die like that! How did he die?' Michael Yew said approaching Zoe. He wasn't approaching threateningly so the hunters let him ask, since Zoe had become more tolerant towards males at camp, especially the ones that had self-control such as Michael.

'Did you hear about the eruption at Mount St Helens?' Zoe asked. Michael nodded his head.

'We all heard about it, everyone's been talking about it because Typhon lives there… wait…' Michael said before stopping himself, the look on Zoe's face saying everything. Phoebe even looked at Zoe with shock.

'Did… did he cause that eruption?' Michael asked on behalf of the Apollo cabin. Before Zoe could say anything, Annabeth stepped forward.

'He and I were cornered with no way not, he ordered me to go invisible and get out, he said he would be right behind me but the next thing I know, I crash into Zoe and then… there was this explosion.' Annabeth said trying not to break down in tears. Kayla was emotionless, she had already shed enough tears that she was at the point where she couldn't physically cry any longer, no tears, just that horrible feeling that he was dead, or alive somewhere where they couldn't reach him.

There was silence, just Michael kicking the ground every now and then as he paced back and forth rubbing his hand through his black hair as he tried to think this out. Percy had only been at camp for a few years and already he had become a hero among the younger campers and had befriended most of the older campers. He was just an all-round nice person, a bit thick sometimes but generally he was a nice guy… and now… he was gone.

'Chiron isn't going to like this…' Michael said. Zoe growled.

'Of course he won't, but right now, I, Annabeth and Kayla need to see Chiron right now. Luke's army marches here right now and we are wasting valuable time when we could be setting up traps and defenses against the entrance!' Zoe said. Michael nodded and stepped back allowing Phoebe to talk.

'Chiron's in the big house with Dionysus and Lady Artemis. They are discussing tactics for the upcoming battle.' Phoebe said. Zoe smiled and returned Phoebe's hug from earlier.

'Please stay here and don't take your eyes off that entrance, they could attack at any time. We have to go see Lady Artemis and Chiron about what we discovered while we were down there.' Zoe said and started to leave, Kayla and Annabeth following behind.

The hunters just hoped Thalia was alright while the Apollo cabin wondered what Percy's fate was. Some of them didn't believe Percy was dead, they believed he was stronger than that, while some of them believed he was dead. They also hoped Grover could find Pan, everyone around camp knew that Grover had only this last chance to find Pan, and his time has now already expired. If he returns back empty handed, that's it for him.

Zoe, Annabeth and Kayla made their way towards the big house. Most of the campers were in their cabins due to curfew but some of the campers were looking out of their windows towards the moving forms of the three girls as they made their way to the big house. As the trio walked in they could hear the voices of Lady Artemis in her adult form talking with Chiron while Dionysus sat in his chair drinking a diet coke and reading wine magazines.

Zoe was the first to walk into the room and instantly caught Artemis's attention. The gods smiled and quickly ran over and picked up her best friend in a hug. Causing Zoe to groan as it was the second lot of painful hugs she had gotten in the last five minutes.

'Zoe! I am so relieved to know that you are okay. I heard about what happened at Mount St Helens and my father isn't too happy with Percy at the moment, so to say…' Artemis said as she released Zoe and returned to her serious state.

'The return of Kronos's weapon is very bad for all of us indeed. His power will now have increased and that means more monsters will be attracted to his cause.' Artemis said. Zoe pitched in.

'Kronos's army matches forward to camp, and right now I'd say they already have the string, we have limited time to prepare.' Zoe said. However Chiron noticed that the group of supposed six was now down to three.

'Zoe, where are Percy, Thalia and Grover?' Chiron asked. Zoe sighed and told the group what had happened. Chiron's hands balled into fists as his knuckles went white, he was very fond of Percy, one of his most favorite heroes he had trained over the past three thousand years, and now his fate was uncertain.

Artemis didn't like it either. She seemed to have faith in Percy, he had proven himself to be an acceptable male and since Zoe saw the good in the boy, why shouldn't she? She hated males yes but she only hated the qualities most males had, which Percy did very well in not showing. Not to mention Percy was a large asset in this war that they couldn't afford to lose.

Dionysus didn't seem to care either way.

Chiron rose from his chair, emerging into his full centaur form with a fierce look on his face. He suddenly no longer looked like a camp director; he looked like a full time military commander ready to go to war.

'I will prepare the camps defenses and issue a full war time procedure. Artemis can I entrust you to lead these campers into battle?' Chiron asked. Artemis smiled.

'My hunters are here so you can count on me being here for the battle.' Artemis reassured. Chiron smiled.

'Excellent, this camp will not fall, not while we stand here breathing.' The old centaur said with passion and determination. The death of Percy probably woke the old man up and awoke his fighting spirit. Before he trotted out of the room he turned his head back with a sad look on his face.

'We will hold a ceremony for Percy in two weeks, if he hasn't been found; we will presume he was killed in action.' Chiron said before leaving the big house meeting room to go and prepare the camps defenses.

Artemis turned to Zoe and the other two girls with sullen look on her face. She was getting nervous, this war that lasted so long the last time was actually happening again and this time, without the support of Hades to help them, and Poseidon was down under the sea protecting his own kingdom, the whole idea of going up against Typhon seemed suicidal and pointless.

Artemis walked over to Kayla and put her hands on her shoulders.

'Listen… Kayla, I'm not sure if Percy is still alive or if he is actually dead… but if he didn't make it, the prophecy falls to you, and although I like the idea of a woman making the decision to save Olympus, I'm still just as nervous as I was before when I learned that Percy was going to be the one to live the prophecy out. Since the last war the gods have gotten very arrogant towards getting help, it's one of the reasons why my father refuses to apologize to Hades… just remember, it all may seem hopeless, even for us gods some of us see this war as a lost cause but just remember one thing…

There is always hope, always a choice, and sometimes that choice might be the choice that saves us all…' Artemis said with a weak smile. Although it was a nice speech, it didn't help Kayla feel any better about her brother or the fact that she possibly might be the prophecy child.

And with that, Artemis left along with Zoe leaving Annabeth and her standing in the meeting room trying to gather their thoughts. So much had happened in the last day that it was almost too much to handle. Right now she needed her brother, someone to go to, and someone to stand beside to make her feel safe… safer than she is right now.

'_Percy… if you even are still alive… where ever you are, we really need you… Annabeth needs you… I need you.'_

-Line Break-

Two weeks had passed and the hunters remained at camp with their mistress. All hope of Percy still being alive had long since faded, but there were two people that still believed he was still out there, somewhere in the world.

Today was his memorial ceremony which had come faster than expected, the hope that Percy would find his way back to camp was high but the likely chance of it happening was low. The shrine was set up, the shrine of sea green blue with the trident Si-gel on it. Annabeth stood behind Chiron to his right and Kayla to his left. They both didn't believe this was happening but it actually was, Percy was now going to be presumed officially dead.

The two had been asked to remain on stage while Chiron spoke, even the hunters remained silent, Percy was a kind male, who had been accepted by their mistress, and their Lieutenant, both of them harvested a strong unbreakable hatred for males and their sick way of going about their _needs_ but Percy was a different kind of male. He was the kind who would sacrifice himself to save others, and that was why he was being honored today. All the younger campers considered him a hero, for all the things he had done…

He had retrieved Zeus's Master Bolt when he was Twelve.

He had retrieved the Golden Fleece and rescued Grover when he was thirteen.

He had held up the very sky itself when he was Fourteen.

All these were feat's that any uprising hero would have dreamed about being able to do to rise to a hero's status, but that's not what made Percy so famous, it was why he did all these amazing things. He did them to for this friends, he did it to help people and not for own personal gain. He was a hero like any other and what Heroes should be like instead of what they were like. These feats made Artemis and Zoe smile, he was a man that they had come to respect, he was truly unique in their books.

Finally, once Chiron was done, Annabeth was called to the stand, her eyes were puffy red, and she couldn't believe she was doing this. As she approached the stand, she stood there for a minute trying to gather her thoughts and calm herself down. She turned back and looked at Kayla for reassurance and got a very weak smile.

Annabeth turned back to look at the crowd of people.

'He… was a friend like none other… someone I could trust, and someone I could rely on when I was down. He was one of the bravest people I have ever met and one my best friends I have ever had…' She said, she scanned the crowd, everyone was sad, except a bunch of block headed Ares children, Clarisse looked a little disappointed thought which seemed to make Annabeth question how Clarisse really felt about Percy.

'He's-' she started before she cut herself off. Something right at the back of the crowd caught her eye. A boy in what looked like bandages and tattered burnt clothing. She lent forward and carefully tightened her eyes.

It was Percy.

Suddenly all these dormant, pushed back, locked emotions exploded within her. Her face went so red it looked like a tomato. She felt anger, confusion, happiness… all these conflicting emotions surfaced to only let her say three words.

'He's right there!' Annabeth yelled pointing to the back of the crowd. Everyone turned and gasped, while the boy at the back just chuckled halfheartedly. Kayla ran towards the edge of the stage in a panic, it was like a miracle had just occurred. There at the back of the crowd was her brother and he looked like shit.

All the campers swarmed Percy like a swarm of bees trying to get to the best flower. However, the crowd parted when Chiron, Artemis, Zoe, Annabeth and Kayla came barging through to confront the son of the sea. Before anyone could do anything, Kayla walked right up to Percy and punched him right in the middle of his face sending him to the ground. Percy hadn't exactly been expecting that, but he had expected the next part.

'WHERE THE IN TARTARUS HAVE YOU BEEN!' Kayla screamed at her brother who was now rolling around on the ground holding his nose. Annabeth walked up and stood beside her, her face had the same look on it, a mixture of tears, happiness and anger.

'Couldn't have said it better myself!' Annabeth agreed. Zoe and Artemis found this exceptionally amusing while Chiron wiped his forehead in relief.

'I don't think I have ever been this relieved to have a camper return home from a quest.' Chiron said. Finally Artemis seemed to ask the only sensible question that was on everyone's minds but couldn't actually seem to get the words out.

'Percy… where exactly have you been? We all thought you were dead…' Percy got up still holding his nose and smiled weakly. He said the only thing he could actually come up with at the time; Kayla had literally knocked a few screws loose making things harder to explain, so instead he said something stupid.

'I… I got lost.' Percy said with a stupid smile. This earned a punch in the gut courtesy of Annabeth who was now fuming at his stupidity.

'Lost… Lost? LOST!? Seaweed Brain we thought you were dead! How could you have gotten lost?!' Annabeth almost screamed. Percy was finding it rather hard to communicate with an angry sister and a potentially angry girlfriend glaring at him.

'Hey, cut me some slack alright? I was blown out of a freaking volcano and fell towards earth like a dam comet and now I'm getting smacked around by you two!' Percy groaned. Chiron groaned at the attention that they were gathering.

'We should discuss this in more private quarters… Everyone, get back to your normal activities at once!' Chiron ordered before picking both Annabeth and Percy up and trotting back to the big house leaving Kayla, Zoe and Artemis to trail along behind them.

Once they got back to the Big House, Percy explained to them just what had happened to him. He explained how he had tapped into some hidden power inside of him and almost disintegrated himself along with half of the mount. He told them he was blasted out of the Volcano and the next thing he knew he woke up on a bed on some island. This gave Artemis a fair idea of who put him there and why. At the same time, an old hatred for the gods rose in Zoe's mind. It all made sense; he had been marooned of her sister, Calypso. When the gods banished her there, that was the pinnacle of hatred she harvested for the gods, but that was her only reason to hate them for it. Such a horrible fate, the gods teasing her with males that she cannot but help fall in love with and to make it worse, it was a male that could never stay with her, he always had a reason to leave.

Artemis looked at Zoe carefully, she had always been against the idea of imprisoning Zoe's sister but the council of Olympus is a democracy, and when it isn't a solstice, it's a dictatorship run by her father. Even though Artemis was against the idea of imprisoning Calypso, the majority of the vote said to imprison all allies of the Titans, and that meant family to.

Zoe got out of it because she supported the Olympians and she was a loyal maiden to the hunters of Artemis which meant no one was allowed to touch her without Artemis's permission, and Artemis would never let any god take her away from the hunt, not even Zeus himself would dare try.

'I also know how to navigate the Labyrinth, Hephaestus and I had a chat.' Percy said. Annabeth's eyes widened.

'Really, he told you how to do it?' Annabeth asked with slight happiness. Percy seemed to have a lopsided smile that curved into a frown. He knew she wasn't going to like what he was about to say and he had a feeling she was going to hate him for even suggesting it.

'Okay, this is what we need…' Percy started. As he explained the idea he had, he got a number of nods of approval and understanding except from Annabeth, her glare sent shivers down his spine, even for suggesting the idea, and he knew she was going to react like this.

'No. Absolutely not! This is my quest, I should lead it!' Annabeth said standing up in protest. Zoe snorted.

'Right, because you're totally fit to lead this quest. Tell us exactly what you did when you thought Percy was dead?' Zoe asked. Annabeth opened her mouth but then shut it accordingly, she couldn't retaliate to that, her behavior in the Labyrinth after Percy died proved just how unfit she was to lead a quest, something she had been wanting to do since she was seven… still the words from the prophecy she was given before they went in there… it still sent chills down her back.

'You forced me to take control of the situation, despite this being your quest, I had to lead us back to camp because you two…' Zoe said pointing to both Kayla and Annabeth, 'Were so caught up in your grieving that you didn't bother to open your eyes and realize if we didn't get out of there in time, we could have all died.' Zoe continued.

'Okay… I get it…' Annabeth said miserably. Percy sighed and went over and sat next to her.

'I know it's hard to accept mortal help but trust me, we need her help.' Percy said trying to make Annabeth feel a little better than she was before. She turned and looked at Percy, completely un-amused at what he was trying to do, not that he found it amusing but she was getting extremely frustrated with Percy today.

First they all thought he was dead, second he actually turns out to be alive and turned up at camp before they pronounced him dead. Third he had the nerve to tell her and the others that he just got lost, and fourth… now he was suggesting they go get mortal help, just because she had perfect vision through the mist.

'You know what Percy? You are the most annoying person I have ever met!' She growled as she stood up and left the room. Everyone watched as she stormed out of the room looking red in the face. Percy just sighed and rested his hand on the back of his head. He just didn't understand how girls function at all.

Artemis sighed and spoke up.

'Percy is right, the only way to easily navigate that place is by having a clear sighted mortal. Regardless whether Annabeth wants to admit it or not, you have to find this girl and you have to find her fast otherwise we are going to be in some serious trouble.' Artemis said. Zoe agreed along with Chiron.

Percy grumbled as he stood up.

'However way we look at it, Luke's army will be here soon, and probably sooner than we would want it to be… we need to be ready for when it happens. Annabeth, I, Zoe and Kayla will find Rachael and convince her to guide us through the Labyrinth.' Percy said. Kayla raised an eyebrow.

'How exactly are you going to convince her to put her life at risk? She could die down there.' Kayla said. Percy just smiled and chuckle a little bit.

'Trust me… I don't think she's gonna say no.'

-Line Break-

A/N: And Boom! I think that's over my 100,000 word milestone. Man am I happy to have come this far with this story.

I got to say sorry, a huge Sorry to those of you who have waited for an update and haven't gotten one for almost two months... I had a sort of writers block where I lost interest in Percy Jackson and started to write about other things.

I got into Familiar of Zero, which is an Anime that I enjoyed, and I have started a story that's now over 60,000 words, so I'll be switching in between those two stories... Plus, I have an announcement for a possible upcoming story!

I have started to write another Percy Jackson story, not sure if i'll get anywhere with it but, the main character the story will be focused around is Zoe and Nico. ITS NOT A PAIRING, just saying. A short summary, It's a time travel story, Zoe and Nico go back in time to stop the future from being destroyed, such and such. That's all I'm gonna say, I don't want to say anymore just encase I decide to trash the story.

Lastly, I have my final lot of Exams for the year, they finish around 18th of November so don't expect any updates until after that date.

Please Review, they are what pushes me to update and fuels my motivation, and just saying that flames and negative reviews will be ignored.

Thanks and I'll see you guys next chapter :)!


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